History Main / DangerouslyGenreSavvy

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tarquins_tips_9670.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The solution to [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy poor guards]]? Giving them a [[EvilOverlordList proper instruction manual]].]]

-> '''Nicodemus:''' I take it that this is the portion of the conversation where I reveal my plans to you?\\
'''Harry:''' What have you got to lose?\\
'''Nicodemus:''' And apparently you expect me to tell you of any vulnerabilities I might have as well. I am wounded by the lack of professional respect that implies.\\
'''Harry:''' Chicken.
-->-- ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', ''Literature/DeathMasks''

%% Quote changed per quote thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=57#1416

Some people [[TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty don't play by the rules]]. A point comes when a typical {{Genre Blind|ness}} person would make the tiny, critical but common mistake that would lead to their defeat like every other person before them in an identical situation.

But this time, the person has an attack of RealLife common sense. No need to waste your breath asking WhyDontYouJustShootHim -- [[CombatPragmatist they do]]!

In brief, a person smart enough to know a thing or two about the very situation they're in. And thus, he will usually [[LampshadeHanging bring attention to this very fact]]. Though they don't always overlap, being Dangerously Genre Savvy does help on the road to being a MagnificentBastard and/or NoNonsenseNemesis. Bonus points if the action is only superior if one assumes that the world runs on narrative logic rather than reality.

An aversion or defiance of the IdiotBall. The opposite of ContractualGenreBlindness. Compare FlawExploitation, and FakeWeakness. May lead to DefiedTrope and (from there?) RealityEnsues.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', the "Villain" famously demonstrates this in a scene that was formerly the {{Trope Namer|s}} for YouAreTooLate.
-->[[spoiler:'''Ozymandias:''' "Do it?" Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my masterstroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.]]
* Villains who are [[TheChessmaster chessmasters]] in Franchise/TheDCU and Franchise/MarvelUniverse can often have a good amount of overlap here, depending on the writer. For example, ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' villain The Leader set a bomb to destroy a town at midnight. The Hulk managed to locate said bomb and defeat the mooks guarding it with over two hours to spare - at which point The Leader revealed he also had a remote detonator, and blew the town sky-high.
* During Creator/GrantMorrison's run on JLA, issues eight and nine had the villain "The Key" put the entire JLA into a Virtual Reality set up which he counted on them overcoming - at which point he'd use the energy of their victory to obtain [[AGodAmI Ultimate Power]]. [[spoiler:He was stopped by a boxing glove arrow from Green Arrow's kid.]]
* In the big movie, "The New Frontier" during Flash's introduction the villain distracts him during the escape by revealing that there are nine bombs hidden throughout the city. Barry runs around and [[spoiler: finds eight of them only figuring out at the last second that there are only eight bombs. He throws them into the villain's blimp just as they go off]].
* Creator/MarvelComics supervillain ComicBook/TheHood has demonstrated a great deal of savvy as he organized his LegionOfDoom. Notably, he has realized that being defeated once does not mean you can't come back again and try again. He also realizes that villains usually fail because of impractical plans. Without a nemesis hero to have a vendetta against, he comes up with plans that have maximum profit.
* Another Marvel baddie, Sidewinder, after spending his original years as a typical {{Genre Blind|ness}} CardCarryingVillain, came up with the then-remarkable idea of a criminal group organized like a business; if any of his Serpent Society are caught by authorities, he used his teleportation powers to free them in exchange for a cut of their loot. The Society even acted as a placement service, putting its members in touch with anonymous clients for special jobs. For an unusually long time in the 1980s, Comicbook/CaptainAmerica was running ragged trying to stop them and while their schemes were often foiled, they always got away. The only downside was that you had to have a snake theme to join. Why this sweet deal didn't lead to mass renamings and costume alterations toward the scaly side in the Marvel Universe is a mystery.
%%* Poor Ted Kord (ComicBook/BlueBeetle II). In "Countdown to Infinite Crisis", he discovers the villain is actually [[spoiler:Max Lord, his old boss in the Justice League]], confronts him, refuses to join him, and [[spoiler: is immediately shot in the head]].
* In ''Comicbook/AnimalMan'', the Psycho Pirate has MediumAwareness (he was the only one to remember the true events of ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''). He's refused to sleep, knowing that he could at any moment [[RetGone be taken out of continuity.]] [[spoiler:When the remnants of the Infinite Earths start to be restored by his existence (which he wants to happen), he realizes that it would be a bad idea if the insane Ultraman was restored.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** When he first showed up Comicbook/{{Bane}} had a novel approach to taking out Batman; rather than an overly complex plan full of hostages and deathtraps, just orchestrate a mass jailbreak at [[CardboardPrison Arkham]]. The villains wore Bats down enough for Bane to move in for the kill. At this point he gets {{Genre Blind|ness}}, choosing instead to just break Batman's back, which, since this is a [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] comic (or, depending on who you ask, a {{Deconstruction}} of one), paves the way for a DarkerAndEdgier replacement Bats. Admittedly, the back-breaking would've been permanent if Robin's father's doctor hadn't been one of the few people in the world who could surgically fix Batman's back, without resorting to the greater superhero community.
** Black Mask, during his run as Gotham Crime Boss, used Batman's own plan against him and ended up wresting control of Gotham's organized crime during ''War Games'', before anyone knew that he was still alive. He also got some killer lines because of it:
-->''[When asked if Red Hood is crazy for offering to sell back their kryptonite for $50,000,000]''\\
'''Black Mask''': No. The crazy ones would make a suit out of the rock and march into Metropolis and play king of the mountain. This one knows what he's doing.\\\
Unfortunately for Black Mask, He predicted that as a hero, [[YouWouldntShootMe Catwoman wouldn't kill him]] despite the fact that he was trying to ruin her life and brutally kill her friends. He was wrong.
** Comicbook/RasAlGhul once decided the easiest way to take down the titular Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} was to [[spoiler: simply use Batman's plans to do so]]. They're rendered helpless before Batman even realizes what's happening.
* One ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' strip involves the title character [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?p=494 attempting a plea-bargain]] with a Dangerously Genre Savvy EvilOverlord over the fact that she had conquered them "without rumors, signs and portents or escaped prisoners" as forewarning for them to find and stop her beforehand.
* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Comicbook/BlackOrchid'' miniseries, the eponymous heroine is captured by a villain early in the story who comments how, having seen all the ''Film/JamesBond'' films, he's not going to lock her up in the basement or set up some elaborate deathtrap and leave her alone. Instead, [[NoNonsenseNemesis he's just going to kill her]]. [[spoiler: Then he does. ''Then,'' reasoning that a bullet might not kill a superhero, he sets her corpse on fire. And blows up the room. The last bit works.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Part of the reason why Comicbook/LexLuthor, despite having no superpowers, is still Superman's worst enemy -- he knows that in all his previous acts of villainy, PlausibleDeniability was the only thing that has always saved him from getting outed publicly as a supervillain, and he knows that since all his power is because he's the CorruptCorporateExecutive head of an enormously powerful MegaCorp, he can't engage in any supervillain cliches that would cause people to realize he's a supervillain. Therefore, he ''never'' risks his image on one attempt to take over the world without a back-up excuse, so when he (inevitably) fails, Superman can't touch him, as no one can prove his guilt in court.\\
\\
A classic "imaginary story" has Luthor managing to use the various clichés of UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}}. Finding a cure for cancer, Luthor pretends to reform, knowing Superman's desire to see the good in anyone will make him believe it. After keeping up the act a bit, Luthor traps Superman under a high-intensity Kryptonite beam, keeping it going even as he monolouges his big plan. He makes sure this is the real Superman, not one of his android doubles and keeps the beam going long after Superman has stopped twitching to make damn good and sure Superman is dead. While he ends up paying in the end (sent to the Phantom Zone by the angry Kandorians), Luthor still overcame these clichés to win for once.
* Megatron becomes quite Dangerously Genre Savvy in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comics. At this point Megatron has just been upgraded into a near unstoppable new body, but instead of doing something stupid like going for an all out assault on the Autobots he sets up a complicated and downright brilliant plan that allows him to take control over the minds of humans possessing devastating weapons supplied by the Decepticons, knowing full well Optimus would never even consider harming a human civilian. He later reveals that he's not doing this kill the Autobots, but to emotionally and mentally ''destroy'' them. He also waits to remove Starscream from power, kill Rodimus Prime, and blast the Matrix of Leadership into space so that ''nothing'' is left to stop him before starting up this plan.
* Cobra Commander usually starts out the usual {{Genre Blind|ness}}, incompetent villian we all know and love in many ''Franchise/GIJoe'' comics. However we soon find out he's more than capable of learning from his mistakes. When he does, everyone ends up realizing just how dangerous a lunatic like Cobra Commander can ''really'' be.
* [[GodOfEvil Anathos]] in ComicBook/LesLegendaires was an embodiment of this trope, and made heavy use of it:
** In order to come back, he needed to chose a future host for his [[DemonicPossession reincarnation]] by putting his MarkOfTheBeast on her; when he had to do it, he chose Shimy, the current [[TheChosenOne Elementary Elf]], and put his mark on her during the ceremony that gave her her elementary powers. Elementary Elves aren't allowed to relate what happened during said ceremony, so Shimy couldn't tell anyone what happened, her mark was assumed to have been left by the Elemental Spirits, and as a result his intervention went unnoticed;
** Moreover, he expected people to try to stop him when the time would come, so he didn't just put his mark on her, but also on an item she was wearing; later, Shimy offered said item to her friend [[TheHero Danael]]; when the FiveManBand succeeded in putting Shimy in a safe place while retaining him, Danael, having the idem on him, was technically wearing the mark, allowing Anathos to possess him as his plan B.
** Later, when the heroes attempt to pull out a plan to ambush him, he anticipates it, including the fact this was all a diversion.
* Dr. Eggman becomes this in ''Comicbook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' after he [[spoiler:reasons himself out of insanity]].
* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'': The Nightmares were previously beaten by the combined power of the Elements of Harmony. To make sure this doesn't happen again, the first thing the Nightmares do is kidnap Rarity, [[spoiler:then make her their new queen to make absolutely sure they can't be beaten the same way]]. [[spoiler:Nightmare Rarity]] almost immediately tries to turn the Mane 5 against Luna, and when that fails has them captured and imprisoned in separate, magic-nullifying cells. She also stopped Spike's rescue attempt before he even had a chance to implement it.
* ''Comicbook/PaperinikNewAdventures'':
** [[AiIsACrapshoot Crazy AI Two]] is this in spades: before revealing himself for the first time he manipulates TheHero in shutting down One (AKA the only entity on Earth able to stop him). In his third appearance he manipulates his way into gaining control of the Evronian invasion force, but is provident enough to build himself an escape starship in case his attack failed. His last appearance shows that he programmed his auditory sensors to not hear his creator's vocal password, something that would delete him.
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Morgan Fairfax]] separates and disguises the two keys necessary to stop his DoomsdayDevice (while keeping them close enough if '''he''' needs them) and even if someone manages to find the keys he will still need a code to shut it down. On another occasion he refuses the JustBetweenYouAndMe scenario and simply tries to kill Paperinik.
** The Evronians: they have a formidable military, but if there's a ''minimal'' chance that a target may resist they will first infiltrate and sabotage the defences from the inside (Xerba would have never fallen had one of their infiltrators not managed to get the government to both sign a trading agreement and ''temporarily shut down the orbital defences''); they need to invade other planets because they're {{Emotion Eater}}s and [[PoweredByAForsakenChild even parts of their technology are fueled by emotional energy]], so they keep around breeding stocks of their victims ''and'' are at the constant search of a sufficiently powerful and enduring energy source to power their technology; when Two infiltrated their invasion force the local commander ''noticed him immediately'' but decided to let him do his trick knowing that he would help him dealing with Paperinik, limiting himself to create a program to erase him and ''sabotage Two's escape ship''; and they pick a fight with [[PhysicalGoddess Xadhoom]] (opposite to desperately trying to kill her whenever she finds them) only when they've come up with a possible way to stop her - and use her as the energy source mentioned above.
* {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} managed this in ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman The Return of Bruce Wayne]]''. Batman has been hurled back to prehistoric times, and has amnesia to boot. Nevertheless, the readers all know Bruce will still make it home somehow, because he's Batman. As it turns out, that inevitability is exactly what Darkseid was counting on - he'd turned Batman into a bomb, so that when he made it back to his own time, all existence would be destroyed.
* [[Comicbook/UltimateXMen Sabretooth in the Ultimate Marvel continuity]] realises that Weapon X and government scientists have simply been overthinking the problem of killing Wolverine, with all their poisons, adamantium bullets and sci-fi weaponry. He decides to simply hold Wolverine's head under water with his superior strength, as Wolverine still needs to breathe even with a healing factor. Even if Wolverine survives the drowning, he'll be severely incapacitated (possibly even permanently) by brain damage from lack of oxygen. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, Wolverine shows his own skill at this trope by employing a simple GroinAttack... with his famous claws that can cut anything. Even Sabretooth can't shrug off that kind of pain.]]\\
\\
The Collector did try this tactic with ComicBook/{{X 23}} and it did not work. Yes, she "died" due to oxygen deprivation, but shortly after returning to an oxygenated atmosphere, her healing factor kicked in and she got back up to continue the fight. She was also shot through the head once with a sniper round and lived. So clearly, brain damage has no lasting effect with this kind of healing factor.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/SpiderManRoguesGalleryIToZ Shocker]], despite being widely viewed as an ineffectual joke, is actually one of the smartest and most successful of Spidey's rogues because he works like a businessman, not a villain. He avoids holding on to grudges because they tend to result in stupid, petty, pointless, and impulsive acts that get people locked up or beaten to a pulp (which would prevent him from working and thus cut into his profit margins), keeps a profile that's high enough to make him an in-demand figure but low enough to keep him off the radar of people who he knows will aggressively pursue (and possibly kill or maim) him, never does anything that he isn't being paid to do because it's wasted effort that, again, tends to put him in harm's way, and never accepts jobs that are too risky because he knows that it's smarter to take a job that pays less but is guaranteed to be a success over a job that pays a shitload but has a very, very slim chance of being a success. In fact, it's likely that the main reason that he isn't a bigger name is because his strictly mercenary approach means that he never does anything huge and attention-grabbing and thus doesn't ''look'' like a big shot... which is just the way he likes it.
* In Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal manga series, Kaito had his ace stolen in a Duel....and then he revealed that he has prepared for that, by summoning a monster that can destroy his own ace. All because he KNEW such thing will eventually happen, due to his overuse of said ace.
* Sombra in ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic My Little Pony: Fiendship Is Magic #1]]'', just like in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show]]--he knows Celestia and Luna will beat him, so he pre-emptively prepares to curse the Empire.
* ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} Aquaman in ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}: ComicBook/JusticeLeague #2''. He disguised himself as a normal guard while the JL fight Ocean Master disguised as him. Aquaman, then, stops Vixen, sneaked in the castle to save Mera. Vixen calls upon the power of marine life to fight Aquaman..who can control marine life. He then commands her to pick up a gun and blow her head off. When an angry Supergirl tried to inflict him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, his trident turns into Kryptonite. How? He scanned all the people in the Pre-Flashpoint dome and Supergirl's biology just happened to match some rocks on the ocean floor and just because it might come in handy, Aquaman had his scientists add them to his trident. Finally, Mera pretends to fall for him, shanks him, and then leaves him to the "mercy" of [[ThreateningShark his former subjects]].
* A full list of what ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} does to figure here would take too long, so we'll give only one example: he [[NeverRecycleYourSchemes never executes the same plan twice and most of his gadgets are used only once]] because he knows that the next time [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Ginko]] will be ready for them, as shown by the police always preparing for the few tricks he reuses (LatexPerfection, knives, acid, lasers, darts and gas) if they even ''suspect'' he's around and that time a copycat started using Diabolik's old plans getting Ginko to prepare a trap for him ''using said old plans as template'' (we don't know what Ginko was preparing only because Diabolik found the copycat first).
** The copycat above ''thought'' he was this, as he expected Diabolik to track him down and had prepared an apparently inescapable trap for him. When Diabolik came the copycat trapped him, gloated he had won and was about to call the police on him before taking over the name of Diabolik for good... And ''then'' Diabolik replied he had forgot about Eva Kant, who was behind him.
* ''ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}}'' has [[HeroKiller Janus Valker]] and his father Boda:
** Back in the day, Boda, knowing he had many enemies, would change home at a whim, making extremely hard for him to be tracked down, and park his car before the house ''on the opposite side of the street'', resulting at least once in his enemies bombing the wrong house and getting gunned down by him. Also, whenever he went after his enemies he'd wear a backpack with his still young son in it, both because this way he wouldn't be tempted to run away... And because [[EnfantTerrible his son was a crack shot that would gun down any enemy who tried to attack him from behind]].
** Janus Valker is a ''professional'' HeroKiller, who divides superheroes between those who think he won't shoot and those who think they can [[BulletCatch stop his bullets with his hands]]. He has a formidable robot that can easily overpower and kill any superhero and programmed to attack them as soon as they start gaining the ''mentality'' for it, before they can become strong enough to defeat it. His ''other'' robot is programmed in such a way it will kill both the criminal he's hunting down ''and'' Rat-Man (making it look like an accident), and if incapacitated it will explode with enormous strength. The only reason Rat-Man survived long enough to [[spoiler:make Valker pull a HeelFaceTurn]] is a combination of dumb luck and his rare moments of genre savvyness (such as when he used the fact the memetic Creator/ChuckNorris [[ItMakesSenseInContext always shows up to bring him on missions whenever he opened a book]] to ''[[SummonBiggerFish sic him on the hero-killing robot]]'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The SI from ''Fanfic/SleepingWithTheGirls'' is very much this, probably because he has watched all of the anime and read the manga of the universes he lands in, and so knows the tropes that guide them.
* In ''FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', In particular, Voldemort WROTE an equivalent of the Evil Overlord List, and made a Horcrux out of the [[spoiler:Pioneer Plaque, which is currently outside the solar system... In addition, when there was a prophecy that Harry was going to destroy the world if he didn't have Hermione's council, he goes to ridiculous lengths to ensure that doesn't happen, ranging from bringing Hermione back with essentially super powers and her own horcrux, to binding Harry with an Unbreakable Vow so that, even in the event he escapes Voldemorts clutches, it will prevent him in any way from possibly destroying the world or letting the world be destroyed. He even instructs his Death Eaters not to kill Hermione in the event either or both of them escape! ]]
* In ''FanFic/UninvitedGuests'', Aizen's latest plan is to [[spoiler: [[HostileShowTakeover steal Ichigo's main character status, thus giving everybody on his side]] PlotArmor]].
* In ''[[Fanfic/FacingTheFutureSeries Danny Phantom: Trial Of Fire]]'', after Undergrowth returns to Amity City, he realizes that in order to conquer it he will have to face Danny Phantom again, and he had already defeated him once using his ice powers. So, he attacks him using an army of evergreen trees that are naturally resistant to the cold.
* ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'':
** Piedmon in the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' attacks Takato ''directly'' in order to prevent him from Bio-merging
-->'''Piedmon''': I know of your powers, Digimon tamer. I won't allow you to digivolve!
-->'''Takato''': Hey, that's definitely not fair!
-->'''Piedmon''': [[CombatPragmatist Who cares!]]
-->'''Ruki''': He's got a point. It's about time an evil Digimon came out with this idea.
-->'''Takato''': Ruki, you're NOT HELPING!
** Despite his [[AxCrazy unstable psyche]], [[spoiler: Daemon]] also proves to be rather savvy. He sends his troops out to retrieve [[spoiler:Takato]] to avoid any risk to himself, and when they fail, he stops beating around the bush and sends his most overwhelmingly powerful weapon (himself) to annihilate the Tamers.
* Kurwin the Flayer from ''FanFic/WhatLiesBeyondTheWalls'' has studied vermin history long enough to make his own list of everything that led to the [[BigBad Big Bads]]' downfall solely so he can avoid making the same mistakes. Which means he's AFatherToHisMen as opposed to a BadBoss, a ManipulativeBastard instead of a SmugSnake, a courageous fighter instead of a DirtyCoward, and a CombatPragmatist instead of a fighter who uses HonorBeforeReason. And he wants ''nothing'' to do with Redwall.
* Part of the reason ''FanFic/ImperfectMetamorphosis'' is composed of an increasingly elaborate series of {{Gambit Pileup}}s is that nearly every faction is well aware of how things work in Gensoukyou, and do everything they can to counter any opposition (and counter their counters, et cetera). Unfortunately, the GenreBlindness of Team 9 repeatedly screws things over, and the one time everyone's experience fails them (predicting [[spoiler:Rin Satsuki]] is a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds despite her ''still'' not wanting to hurt anyone) it causes no end of grief.
* ''FanFic/InnerDemons'': Even though she believes herself to have already killed the other Element bearers by locking them inside a burning building, the first thing [[FaceHeelTurn Queen!]][[BigBad Twilight Sparkle]] does after setting herself up as Equestria's new EvilOverlord is to dispatch one of her chief lieutenants and a platoon of EliteMooks to Ponyville to confirm whether or not they're dead.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Whispers}}'': Nightmare Moon interrupts Celestia's first attempt to activate the Elements of Harmony by charging her.
* ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'':
** [[VillainProtagonist Jade]], due to having [[FallenHero once been a hero herself]], knows all the tricks of the trade and is using them to her advantage. For starters, she's avoiding WorldDomination plots and focusing on personal gain, since she knows overreaching is what led to past {{Big Bad}}s being made SealedEvilInACan. When she punished [[TheStarscream Valmont]] for his betrayal and realized she'd done so in such a way that the heroes could capture and interrogate him, she immediately cleared out her lair before he could lead them to her [[spoiler: though she made the mistake of leaving Daolon Wong behind to be captured]]. And then there's the BatmanGambit that was [[OperationBlank Operation Steel Lightning]], which ONLY failed because of Agent Wisker's [[SpannerInTheWorks unforeseen interference]]. [[spoiler:And even then, she managed to get info on the tablet locations]].
** After being weakened by her encounter with Lung, Jade decides to put the hunt for the masks on the back burner until she finds the remaining Teachings tablets and uses them to restore herself and gain power, and a better position to bargain with the Generals. But she's still sending her minions after the masks anyway, to keep the heroes distracted in a XanatosGambit; if she gets the mask, that's good, but even if they lose, they keep the heroes busy long enough to find the tablets.
** There's also the TailorMadePrison for any heroes they catch, designed so that they ''literally'' can't move. It's commented that Jade's not taking any chances of escape in the design.
** When in the Vault of Endless Night, Ratso and Chow fall into a monster-filled pit. Jade isn't worried, lampshading how the Enforcers have a JokerImmunity by saying that they have a knack for living. She also realizes that she's about to [[TemptingFate tempt fate]] by saying that [[NothingCanStopUsNow she's about to win]] and stops herself (but the guardian is still released after she takes the tablet).
** She has also taken measures against having her [[WeaksauceWeakness vulnerability to onions]] being used against her, using her eye-covering bandanna to protect her eyes, and wearing a similar one over her mouth after Viper throws part of an onion down her throat.
** Also, after seeing the ChronicBackstabbingDisorder afflicted Shendu betray his allies in the past, the Enforcers know not to trust him as far as they can throw him with the Ox Talisman, and shoot down ''his'' offer of employment when attempting to steal the Talismans.
** Finn shows shades of this as well, as when he's using Kuro's mask to fight the heroes, he hangs back and uses the Squid Khan to wear the heroes down without having to risk himself. Earlier, when [[spoiler: Viper]] was trapped in the aforementioned prison, he ordered Right to watch [[spoiler: her]] constantly, making a ''Film/JamesBond'' reference as he does so.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Kage}}'', Jade is smart enough to [[SecretIdentity give a fake name]] to Miranda and Nerissa in an attempt to leave them with little information about her in the event of a double-cross. She also manages to (apparently) fool them by saying she was tired from her previous battle after they see her instinctively [[CastingAShadow escape into a shadow]] to avoid getting crushed by a rockfall, and they raise the question of why she didn't escape on her own. A few chapters further into the story, when Nerissa ''[[AvertedTrope doesn't]]'' get mad at the Knights for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to beat the Guardians]], she realizes ''immediately'' that Nerissa is letting them off easy for some reason.
* The entire cast of [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6818097/2/Adventures_of_the_Writer Adventures of the writer]] do this far too much.
-->Especially Wolfie, who is essentially omnipotent due to the fact that he uses his laptop to edit the story he's a character in.
* ''FanFic/TheStarsWillAidTheirEscape'': [[BigBad Herald]], aside from managing to [[TheChessmaster manipulate the]] ''[[TheChessmaster entire]]'' [[TheChessmaster story to his favor]], also admits that the Elements of Harmony might actually work on him, and so states that he ''will'' kill the Bearers if they so much as try to use them. In the end [[spoiler:this backfires on him]].
* ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'':
** It's shown in [[ActionGirl Patch's]] story in "Gaiden: 7 Dreams/Nightmares" that [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends Grogar]] counts. He used the Rainbow of Light fragment he found to tether his city to the mortal world, as well as remove his weakness to the bell that constantly defeated him before. He doesn't tell Patch the last part until [[OhCrap she's kicked the bell and nothing happened]]. When his minions fail to stop her, he attacks her himself and averts ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy by scoring several direct hits -- even though he's defeated and [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away again]], he leaves her with third degree burns and a limp for the rest of her life.
** Rancor's spear is one of the only weapons in existence that can harm her, so she only pulls it out when absolutely necessary to avoid people stealing it and using it against her. Later, after using the spear to [[spoiler:backstab Discord]], she disintegrates it just to make sure nobody can use it on her.
* Alexander Sovereign from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' Fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/r/3875254/6/1/ Hero High: Earth Style]] and even more so in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4267279/1/Hero_High_Sphinx_Academy Sphinx Academy]]. Due to having no emotions he is never blindsided and cannot suffer VillainDecay, all the information that the team got on him he personally leaked, and took many situations into account to where he was even aware that the people against him would consider using a {{nuke|Em}} to kill him even if would take 400,000 innocent people with him.
* The point of divergence in ''Fanfic/GameTheoryFanFic'' is that Precia possesses this trait. She treats Fate much better than her canon counterpart [[PragmaticVillainy because it yields better results]], and she is well aware of FinaglesLaw [[spoiler:so she [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee doesn't tell anyone]] what her ''actual'' plan is]], and carries out the most important part [[spoiler:''[[YouAreTooLate before]]'' the TSAB launches their attack]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Doomsday Ascending'' has Ascentia Kortai, who carries no ignorance to the scope of her power simply by virtue of being an Original Character, when an Original Character villain shows up she immediately removes any and all canon characters from the vicinity where they might become horribly destroyed, and seems to understand Mary Sue cliches and uses them to her advantage. She also frequently disregards the attempts by the Princesses to flex their authority; she even treats them as equals when she meets them.
* ''[[Fanfic/AFutureOfFriendshipAHistoryOfHate A Future of Friendship, A History of Hate]]'': When [[BigBad Ruinate]] abducts the Mane Six in Episode 2, he intentionally leaves Twilight behind, because he figures if they're all together, there'd be too much of a chance that they might be able to get loose and use the Elements of Harmony on him. Then, after explaining to his captives how he plans on using their lifeforces to immunize himself to the Elements, he begins right away while Twilight is still passing through his challenges to try and reach them. And by the end of the chapter, even when they do manage to use the [[SoLastSeason unlocked]] Elements on him, it turns out the whole reason he empowered his [[CoDragons heralds]] in the first place was so that the Elements of Hatred would keep him from being re-banished, allowing him to [[VillainExitStageLeft escape]].
* In [[FanFic/VengeanceOfTheStar Vengeance Of The Star]], Twilight is forced to watch as her adopted son Spike is killed in front of her by assassins. In retaliation she captures them and during their trial, after stripping them of their wings and horns ''kills their families in front of them'' before stripping them of their magic and banishing them from Equestria. Twilight then states that she had the deaths of the conspirator’s families done publicly because she knew if she executed the guilty parties they would simply become martyrs for more to rise up against her, and by doing this it will be hard for more of her conspirators to find more support when many know that it won't just be them but their entire families lives on the line. [[spoiler: She later reveals that she simply faked the deaths of the conspirator's families during the execution, and brings up the fact that if she'd left them alone the public would[[SinsOfOurFathers constantly harass and persecute them just for being related to the criminals]].]]
* ''FanFic/FriendshipIsOptimal'': The [[AIIsACrapshoot artificial intelligence]] Celest-A.I., who is not only aware of how humanity would expect an evil A.I. to act and deliberately avoids this, but also knows how those trying to stop her would react and takes precautions against them, such as moving her servers deep within Earth's crust where they can't be attacked, and convincing the one person who can force her to shut down to [[BrainUploading emigrate]] to her virtual world.
* Downplayed in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' - when Calvin and company find the Lightning Man, he shows a rather disturbing knowledge of them, something that they find disturbing. [[spoiler:This is negated when it's revealed that he just got the information from the Brainstorms over Christmas dinner, which the heroes call him out on.]]
* Mr. Cosmo from [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/SinfulBehaviors ''Sinful Behaviors'']] has traits of this. He is aware of the power of the magic chalk and how Rudy stands some chance of beating him, so he makes sure to trap Rudy in his hideout in the real world were, even if Rudy has magic chalk, it's useless to him.
** Another example is when he put something sharp under the door to Snap's cell so that the zoner is unable to use his 2D powers to get out.
** At one point, Mr. Cosmo separates Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Skrawl. Mr. Cosmo does not assume that Penny won't be able to find help, so he immediately has her taken to Draow's room to try to have her killed.
* Apparently, taking Jen's blood in the [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8233291/1/Princess-of-the-Blacks previous story]] gave Voldemort common sense. In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9937462/4/Black-Princess-Ascendant Black Princess Ascendant]]'', he walks to the Potter house (while he can't find it anymore, he did visit it under a previous Fidelius which lets him know where the house should be), casts every anti-transportation ward he can, then launches [[HellFire fiendfyre]] directly at where the house should be. He acknowledges that the Potters might still escape but that even if they do, they'll know that he's not [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] around this time.
* Beelzebub from ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos''. In episode 67, he lures Cosmo into coming alone to his lair. And then when Chris shows up, he kidnaps him too and basically brags to the Blue Typhoon that he has their friends in his grasp. Why did he do all of it? [[spoiler: He wanted to study Tails's Shroud infection, and Beelzebub knew that Tails loved Cosmo and would do anything to protect her even if it meant facing a Demon leader alone. He wanted to make Tails angry on purpose to study the effects]]. And just in case anything went wrong, he installed a self-destruct mechanism and escape pod in his room.
** Maledict himself is definitely this. He immediately understands just how strong Sonic and his friends are and just how much they threaten his plans; he orders his forces to avoid confrontation with the Blue Typhoon to minimize losses [[spoiler: and to keep his son from being killed by mistake]]. Later on, after capturing the Metarex leaders [[spoiler: and Tsali]], he lures Sonic and the rest of the Metarex to an area completely covered with artificial anti-Warp fields. And just in case they try anything funny, he [[SadisticChoice holds the galaxy hostage in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds]] with the ''Galaxy Crusher'' - which he positioned outside the Milky Way to prevent any attacks.
* Ganondorf in ''FanFic/TangledInTime'', he doesn't kill Link as an infant because Link would be reborn and raises him as his son so Link would be too attached to fight him. Notably, Ganondorf makes sure that Link doesn't know to how use weaponry and it pays off when Link is forcibly time-traveled and aged into a teenager and barely knows how to fight with a sword.
* This is the reason why in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2889350/1/Bungle-in-the-Jungle-A-Harry-Potter-Adventure Bungle in the Jungle: A Harry Potter Adventure]]'' only amateurs and idiots use [[KillItWithFire fire]] on any [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Inferi]] being used to guard something. Since they're kept in one location, all kinds of traps can be set to go off if someone uses a fire spell. According to Bill, one of the more common ones is to fill the area with a flammable gas or liquid to incinerate any intruders.
* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''Franchise/{{Stargate}}'' crossover ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-8064/Anubis+Zeppo+Halo.htm Zeppo: Halo]]'', Angelus is far more cunning than his [[VillainBall canon counterpart]]. Rather than immediately announce his return, he along with Spike, Drusilla, and over 30 vampires try to kill Jenny first since she's the only one who might now how to re-ensoul him. Likewise he makes a point to act exactly the same as Angel around Buffy so she doesn't realize he's changed.
* Elf Commander Ragnar, from ''FanFic/PowerRangersGPX'', first refuses a DuelsDecideEverything and CombatByChampion situation with the Red Ranger. Second, he recognizes the threat the Rangers can be and takes them seriously. Third, he [[spoiler: recognizes the Queen can thwart his plans, so he not only manipulates her, but takes over the military, just in case]]. Fourth, he sets up a barrier surrounding the Rangers' city to prevent reinforcements and finally [[spoiler: [[CripplingTheCompetition cripples an unmorphed Ranger so he can't deactivate that shield]]]]. Then there's also taking advantage of the Rangers' unwillingness to kill monsters.
* In ''Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan'', arguably the most dangerous thing about the titular VillainProtagonist isn't his vast magical power or his ruthless, cynical personality. It's the fact that he's more than capable of putting information to tactical use; outside his first couple of encounters with the Mane Six, and getting captured after being knocked out in battle (which hardly reflects on him, given the circumstances), he's been able to stay ahead of, and even manipulate, his enemies throughout the fic. Even when he is captured, he just [[HannibalLecture takes advantage]] of the situation to [[AHouseDivided drive a wedge between Celestia and Luna]] before finally escaping, after which he relocates his forces to a new lair, and sets up a series of bolt holes for groups of them to escape to in case of attack, with only him knowing where all of them are, just in case. And then there's the KansasCityShuffle he carries out in Chapter 42, having figured out Luna's [[DreamSpying method of spying on him]] and the obvious trap that the Princesses have set for him, and turning them on their head. This allows his forces to simultaneously carry out several high profile robberies across Equestria and ''still'' take the tomes that were being used as bait for the trap.
* In ''Fanfic/SeanBeanSavesWesteros'', the [[RealPersonFic "real life"]] Creator/SeanBean is transported into the land of Westeros of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Sean has read all (season-one-current) books in the series. That gives him a ''huge'' edge in surviving the political machinations of Westeros. In addition, his study of British history and lifetime as an actor come in handy. Now living as Ned Stark, not just playing him on TV, Sean Bean needs every advantage he can get.
* Voldemort in the one-shot ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10816633/1/ How to Win Friends and Take Over the World]]''. Instead of killing Lily, he upholds his promise to Severus and simply stuns her (negating the trap she laid) and uses a curse that suffocates Harry instead of the Killing Curse (thinking a quick painless death was too good for him).
* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'': BigBad Cancer Lucrenian. She needs some guinea pigs to test out a prototype of Project Omega and elects to use Academy students. So, she goes to Venice, Italy and forces Gestas, a generic Evil Human, to be the bait, masking the real threats. When the eventuality of Gestas’s death comes, Cancer goes to make her move, but then she notices the students in question are Maka Albarn, owner of the [[DemonSlaying Anti-Demon Wavelength]], and Caius, the Vladingham she wanted dead but was forced to spare due to time constraints. She instead opts to clandestinely go straight for the kill by trying to skewer them with needles, also deciding to simply sic Project Omega on their Demon Weapons. If it weren’t for Soul, who just happened to be facing the right direction to see the attack coming, this tactic would have worked. Then, in the confrontation with Project Omega, Maka admits they are outmatched and suggests fleeing. Cancer reappears and informs them she will have Project Omega eradicate Venice should they run away, forever tarnishing their reputation as forces of the DWMA. Only because of [[ChekhovsClassroom Joint Resonance]] is this crisis averted. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment This is her debut.]]
* [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Orochimaru]] decides to skip the whole "train Sasuke until he's as strong as I am" step in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5012103/1/That-Look That Look]]'' and simply takes over his body the moment they're alone then trains his new body up to be as strong as his old one.
* Basilisx in ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'' is aware that Mario will automatically collect any power-up that he touches, so he throws TWO Poison Mushrooms at Mario during the fight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' doesn't automatically assume NoOneCouldSurviveThat when [[spoiler:Mr Incredible falls off the cliff into a waterfall. He throws down a grenade after him to make sure. And then sends down some weird scanning drone to scan for Mr. Incredible's hopefully dead body. The collection of superhero skeletons in the cave show that this has worked before]]. Doesn't work this time, but full marks for effort. If he were smarter, he would have then killed his secretary after practically letting her die. [[spoiler:And not worn a cape]], and realized [[spoiler:the problem with his plan to have his hyper-intelligent, self-aware, learning killer robot roll over in defeat for him]]. In short, Syndrome is very Dangerously Genre Savvy, but he's also [[SmugSnake arrogant]] and [[LargeHam overly theatrical]], and sometimes these two traits will overrule his common sense and make him do something purely for the spectacle and/or ego boost. This leads directly to his downfall.
** One of his mooks was decently intelligent as well. The one hunting Violet used dirt to find her hiding in water, and was stopped from shooting her dead only when Dash intervened.
* In ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'', when Ratigan learns that Basil is on the case, he realizes that it is inevitable that the great detective will track him to his lair. So he sets a trap for him there. And, because he's such a MagnificentBastard, he also sets up a decoy trap in the bar that fronts his hideout so that Basil will easily avoid it and be lulled into a false sense of security. Too bad he then proceeds to blow it by [[ContractualGenreBlindness not just having his pet cat eat him]], and then strapping Basil and Dawson into a death trap since he was running late in his evil plan's schedule. Bonus points for realizing that crushing Basil's self-esteem and sending him into a HeroicBSOD was the most effective tactic to try.
* Sykes from ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'' was also shown at one point to be of this trope. At one point, Oliver's friends arrived to rescue Jenny from Sykes, and attempted to infiltrate his base by disguising themselves as a Pizza Delivery. Sykes deduces that the guy wasn't actually a Pizza Delivery person because he doesn't recall ever ordering pizza that day, and arms himself with a gun.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'', the heroes come across a regular guard Mook when attempting a TrojanPrisoner ploy.
--> "You're lying. He's not a slave and you're not traders. Look at the way he stands. He doesn't carry himself like a slave. Probably ex-military. Akrennians always threaten before asking a favor, it's tradition. And your robes are [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking made out of bedspreads]]!"
* Prince John from ''Disney/RobinHood'' has a surprising moment of being Dangerously Genre Savvy. Earlier, he and his men failed to see through Robin and Little John's [[PaperThinDisguise gypsy costumes]]. So when Prince John stages an archery tournament, he is more perceptive, seeing through Robin's stork disguise (which is actually pretty convincing) and sets a trap for Robin once his guard is down. Although, possibly he didn't so much see through the disguise as reason that only Robin Hood could have shot the way the stork did.
* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' gives us [[spoiler: Hans, a villain savvy enough to even ''fake LoveAtFirstSight'', do a romantic duet with the heroine, stand up to the oily Duke of Wessleton to look like the good guy, and come off overall as an entirely reasonable young prince. He only slips up when Anna thinks she can get TrueLovesKiss from him to save her from a curse and he decides to explain how that won't work since he was just using her and leaves her to die]]. TheReveal of all this is as chilling as the movie's title, because this villain made sure ''no one'' saw it coming…except perhaps fans who were expecting the plot twist where [[TheDogWasTheMastermind the true villain is never obvious.]]
* Mother Gothel from ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' has the foresight to know that she'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar with Rapunzel. Rather than being a cold stepmother figure to her and giving her motive to run away, she instead impersonates Rapunzel's birth mother and uses her love as emotional blackmail to keep Rapunzel in the tower forever. Gothel also gets points for realizing that Rapunzel is missing from the tower after seeing a riderless horse nearby. She ultimately fails the test, however, when she underestimates Flynn's love for Rapunzel and inadvertently allows him to [[spoiler:cut off her hair, killing Gothel in the process]].
* Thunderclap from ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' makes use of this in one scene; Arlo manages to trick two of Thunderclap's cronies into thinking that his [[ThisIsMyHuman pet caveboy, Spot]] is hiding somewhere else. But Thunderclap isn't fooled, and simply [[DeathGlare stares intently at Arlo, waiting for any sign that he may have been lying]]. And it works, as Arlo reflexively gives away Spot's hiding place soon after.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The killers in the ''Franchise/{{Scream}}'' series, who murder people using the horror genre tropes and cliches.
* Scott Evil from ''Film/AustinPowers'' was very smart. When dad wants to use the overly complicated death trap of doom, [[StatingTheSimpleSolution Scott offers to shoot Austin]]. Needless to say, Doctor Evil was pissed that his son didn't want to play by the villain's handbook.
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'':
-->'''Serendipity:''' How? That's the only thing I couldn't figure out.\\
'''Azrael:''' Oh no, I've seen way too many ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' movies to know that you never reveal all the details of your plan, no matter how close you may think you are to winning.
* Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is almost ludicrously self-aware... and uses his knowledge to kill a ''lot'' of people, making him very dangerous. To elaborate:
** During the heist on one of the mobs' banks, he does not tell the goons he hires that they're robbing the mafia, sets them up to kill each other with the promise of a bigger share of the money and disguises himself as one of them in order to make sure that he's the only one left among the robbers.
** He offers to help the increasingly desperate mafia in dealing with Harvey Dent's aggressive and successful campaign to remove Gotham's criminal elements, while wearing explosives strapped inside his coat in case they decided to decline and just kill him right there (he did rob one of their banks earlier, after all). After getting rewarded for completing said task, he promptly burns his share of the money and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness removes them from play when they're at their weakest.]]
** After kidnapping both Harvey Dent and Rachel, he has them placed in two separate locations rigged with bombs set to explode on a time limit [[SadisticChoice short enough that only one of them can be rescued]]. To make the choice even more sadistic, the locations are mixed up, meaning if they went after Harvey, they'll find Rachel and vice-versa.
** Pays the emotionally devastated Harvey Dent a visit at the hospital, convinces him that society is to blame for Rachel's death and sets him loose to enact vengeance upon the corrupt officials responsible for allowing the kidnapping to happen. This solidifies Harvey's change into Two-Face, irreversibly ruining his reputation as Gotham's white knight.
** He even exploits the GangOfHats trope. The Joker's {{Mooks}} have been committing crimes in cheap rubber clown masks, so for the climactic finale at the construction site his men (nearly) fool Batman and the GCPD by simply wearing street clothes and [[WoundedGazelleGambit pretending they're]] BoundAndGagged, while the ''hostages'' are the ones in clown masks and - even though they're also bound and gagged - have guns taped to their hands so they ''appear'' threatening!
* In the 3rd film, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'',
** [[spoiler:Talia]] ensures there are no loose ends when [[spoiler:detonating the nuclear bomb. She attempts to trigger the bomb before the timer hits, refuses to drive towards the fusion reactor location, and activates the flooding of the reactor to ensure the heroes never succeed in stopping the bomb]].
** Bane is also this for almost the entire movie, [[spoiler:with only one major slip-up, though he certainly learned from it in the end, deciding to defy her request and kill Batman realizing he's too dangerous to be left alive. Only Catwoman's timely arrival saves him]].
* Budd from ''Film/KillBill'', as he's the only one who [[spoiler:chooses to outright shoot Beatrix rather than engaging in a bladefight first]]. However this also means that Elle [[spoiler:poisons him with a [[KarmicDeath Black Mamba serpent]] for it]].
* ''Film/LastActionHero''
** Benedict uses his new-found knowledge of tropes to his advantage in a climactic scene, by [[spoiler:leaving one chamber in his gun empty to convince Jack Slater that he forgot to reload]].
** Slater pre-emptively shooting his cupboard. "How'd you know someone was in there?"
** Zig-zagged by Danny, who knows his movie tropes and repeatedly points them out when sucked into a movie, allowing him to break the plot a few times. However, he believes himself to be an action star. This leads him to conclude that he can safely play chicken against the villain when the villain is in a car and he is on a bicycle. He then realizes he is a comedy sidekick and swiftly abandons his plan - and of course, HilarityEnsues but he is otherwise unharmed.
* The Fallen, from ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen''. Upon learning of the living prime (Optimus), the only one who can kill him, he ''refuses to leave his lair'' until Prime is eliminated, sends his three best Decepticons to accomplish said feat, [[spoiler: waits for them to succeed]] and puts his plan into motion. Later, when [[spoiler:Prime is revived, he immediately teleports in, rips the matrix out of Prime's chest,]] and gets out. If it weren't for [[spoiler:Jetfire]], he probably would've won.
** The Decepticons in ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' learned their lesson from the last film. Instead of falling to Earth as protoforms and causing a worldwide scene, [[spoiler: they travelled to Earth via Sentinel's space bridge, then scanned alternate forms before disappearing into the night]].
* Danny Roman in ''Film/TheNegotiator''. Not only was he an expert hostage negotiator before becoming a hostage taker, but the S.W.A.T. team members opposing him were his co-workers whom he's known for years. Because of this, he's able to foil every trick they use against him, and manipulates their rules of engagement to his advantage. He even hand-picks a hostage negotiator who's never worked with him before, reasoning that, since one or more of those he'd thought were his friends are the ones who'd framed him in the first place, the only negotiator he could trust would be a total stranger.
* Michael Myers in ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''. Unlike most movie serial killers, he prefers to observe his victims carefully and patiently first, not just randomly kill people anywhere, anytime. When he does kill, he prefers sneak attacks, ambushes, or otherwise using the element of surprise, not just all-out swinging away with his weapon like Jason or Leatherface usually does. He's also aware that Dr. Loomis is his ArchEnemy, and so usually doesn't make a move when he's around.
** In [[Film/HalloweenII1981 the second movie]], he cut the wheels of every single car around the hospital just to make sure that Laurie wouldn't be able to escape if she somehow got out of the hospital and tried to escape by driving away.
** In ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'', he got the information where Laurie lived by breaking into his old nurse's house during the night, and then killed the nurse so that she wouldn't tell the world about his return. When he found the school there that Laurie worked at, he waited until all the students left on a school trip before he went in. And there's much more that proves Myers' savvy nature.
*** Laurie Strode also counts in ''H20'', at the end when Michael is about to be taken away in an ambulance but Laurie hijacks the ambulance and drives away so she's able to kill him.
** The beginning of ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'' reveals what may be his most epic savvy moment.
* ''Film/WildWildWest''
** This exchange:
-->'''Gordon''': I only have one request: that you aim for [[BulletproofVest my heart]], my heart which has loved this country so much. \\
'''Loveless''': Shoot him in the head. \\
'''Gordon''': [[OhCrap Damn]].
** Loveless was unaware of a bullet proof vest as Gordon just finished inventing it. Also, when Loveless tries to kidnap President Grant, Gordon shows up disguised as the president so Loveless will let the real one go and take him instead. [[TakeAThirdOption Instead he takes both men]].
* Stansfield in ''Film/TheProfessional'' expects a hard confrontation with Léon and tells an assault team in full gear to be careful, while he stays out of the shooting. Once the team is beaten as he kind of expected he sends backup in full force, and still is prepared to counter the quiet exit Leòn attempts.
* Dalton Russell from ''Film/InsideMan'' has his robbery work perfectly because he was aware of everything that could happen.
* Arguably Anton Chigurh from ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen''. From blowing up a car in order to get medical supplies while people are distracted by the explosion to walking around in socks so his victims won't hear him coming.
* ''Film/RustlersRhapsody'' is a genre parody of old B-movie westerns, in which the hero has been through the standard plot formula in so many towns that he becomes GenreSavvy to everything that's going to happen. This time, however, the villains gets Dangerously Genre Savvy themselves and figure out a way to change up the formula.
* One-off ''Film/JamesBond'' villain Auric Goldfinger from the [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} film bearing his name]] is one of the few antagonists in the series who is this, and chuckles at the notion that he should torture Bond for information instead of just killing him. Bond has to [[GuileHero talk Goldfinger into the torture]] to escape his death.
** Played for laughs later in the film. Bond is put in a small cell and knocks out the lone guard outside to escape but is recaptured. The next time we see Bond in the cell, a guard is sitting across from him. The camera than pans over to show a dozen more guys in the room and out in the hallway, all ready to attack if Bond tries anything again.
* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''
** Khan ([[VillainBall except when he isn't]]), who is pretty much reliving several major [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge epics]]. FridgeBrilliance sets in when you realize that Khan's quoting of ''Literature/MobyDick'' is because he ''knows'' where his obsession will lead, and doesn't care. It takes Joachim's death to make him remember the consequences would extend beyond himself -- like Queequeg's death, and paralleling [[spoiler: Spock's]].
** ''Kirk'', thanks to the fact that he knows more about how Starfleet and their ships operate than Khan does. He is able to pull a number of [[CombatPragmatist remarkably cheap tricks]] to regain the upper hand because of this. Not to mention that he knows he can hand Khan the IdiotBall by [[IShallTauntYou mocking him]].
* In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', Soran is quite savvy about villainy in general and mocks Picard's attempts at talking him down.
-->'''Soran:''' I know why you're here. You're not entirely confident you can shoot down my probe, so you've come to dissuade me from my horrific plan. Good luck.
** Notably, Picard almost ''succeeds'' in talking down Soran from blowing up the star by bringing up Soran's dead wife and child... only for Soran to realize what Picard is doing and countering with "nice try".
* ''{{Film/Watchmen}}'': After revealing his plan [[spoiler: to destroy multiple major cities worldwide in order to achieve world peace, Veidt]] reveals that he has essentially done this
-->'''[[spoiler: Adrian Veidt:]]''' [[ThisIsReality I'm not a comic book villain.]] [[DidYouActuallyBelieve Do you seriously think]] I would explain my master stroke to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome? I triggered it 35 minutes ago.
* ''Film/TronLegacy'': Clu proves he had all of his User's intelligence and then some. First, he uses Flynn's frequent absences and the Programs' resentment of the Isos to gather support. Then, he ambushes Flynn and Tron with intent to kill both. Flynn gets away, but making sure Tron was out of the picture not only left Flynn grieving a friend, but took out the guy capable of rallying any opposing Programs against him. [[spoiler: And since it would be a real shame to let a fallen enemy go to ''waste'', he pulls the ReforgedIntoAMinion trope and turns the Grid's champion into TheDragon and executioner!]] Follow it up with coordinated attacks on the Iso cities that the User can't stop, a viral outbreak that can be blamed on the Isos, and making damn sure the portal back to analog flickers out, leaving Flynn unable to get help from the User world. Who says it's not a "Perfect System?" Twenty years of this doesn't dull it a bit. When a {{Mook|s}} informs him that the heroes must have been killed (remember, no one leaves a body behind in cyberspace), Clu's response is to ''increase'' the patrols.
* ''Film/{{Wishmaster}}'':
** When you get down to it, the Djinn's entire modus operandi. He actively advises humans to make wishes, even those who are aware of [[JackassGenie his nature]] so they can try to beat him at his own game. He ''always'' finds a loophole, and even lampshades how futile these attempts are, since it's nearly impossible to outsmart an eternal being.
** The Djinn apparently learned from his mistake at the end of ''Wishmaster'' by the second film. When Morgana's boyfriend (who had a part in unleashing him) wishes he was never born, the Djinn, instead of screwing with time, simply regresses him to nothing.
** He also realizes that telling people that the wish would cost their soul freaks them out enough that they won't make a wish, so he says "and a pack of cigarettes" to a convict, making the first condition seem like a metaphor or joke.
* Inverted in ''Film/PatriotGames''. When an Irish terrorist cohorts attack the van transporting him to prison, the lead guard very quickly realizes that he and his colleagues are doomed. Hence, he puts up no resistance when they use another guard as a HumanShield, immediately unlocking the door. And when asked if he has any last words before he's executed, he simply tells them to "Get on with it and be on your way", knowing full well that any pleas for his life will be futile.
* ''Film/PacificRim'': After several years of being curbstomped by [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] over and over, the {{Kaiju}} adapt to their tactics enough to cripple the Jaeger Program and whittle down the available pilots and mechas.
** Leatherback [[spoiler:has an EMP ability that is able to disable Striker Eureka, the most deadly Jaeger in existence, and leave the Jaeger helpless against attack]].
** Knifehead [[spoiler:directly attacks the pilots of Gipsy Danger]], as does Otachi, [[spoiler:who goes for Crimson Typhoon's head]]. Otachi also [[spoiler:has a prehensile tail that can counter Crimson Typhoon's third arm]].
** The portal where the Kaiju are emerging from [[spoiler:has a DNA scanning feature to ensure only Kaiju can pass and so that humans can't just chuck a bomb down it]].
* Inverted in ''Film/BasicInstinct''. Catherine isn't aware of the structure of the film's plot, she [[BatmanGambit molds the rest of the characters to follow the path she herself lays out for them]] for the novel she's writing during the film. Nick, the cop-on-the-edge with the bad past willingly falls for the FemmeFatale female writer Catherine, Roxy is the possessive girlfriend who is subtly manipulated to go on a rampage out of jealousy, [[spoiler:Beth becomes the fall-guy for the real villainess, etc]]. She strings Nick along mostly through entertaining [[WrongGenreSavvy his hopes that he's part of a different story]] and will successfully charm the mysterious woman with his rugged manliness so they can live happily ever after.
* A rather subtle one at the end of ''Film/{{Following}}'', harkening back to what started the whole thing. [[spoiler:After framing the Writer for the Blonde's murder, Cobb makes his escape through a crowd. He pauses to look around if he's been followed again, then disappears forever.]]
* Lilith is this in ''Tales From The Crypt: Bordello Of Blood''. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow She knows that Rafe Guttman knows]] that [[spoiler: vampires "always" bite their victims on the neck. So Lilith turns Catherine Verdoux into a vampire on the sly by biting her on the ''thigh''. (There's also FridgeBrilliance in that Lilith knew that Rafe wouldn't be able to inspect Catherine's bare thigh without coming off as an AccidentalPervert, which would in turn give Catherine a perfectly good excuse for stopping him if he tried to do so.)]] In this way, Lilith is able to [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning "win" even after her death]], which arguably makes her the most formidable villain on this page.
* When she hears that the fairies have taken the princess into hiding, ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' does not waste sixteen years looking for her. She does not send out incompetent grunts. She sends her [[TheDragon Dragon]], who proves to her that this was the right move by finding them in under a day.
** Knowing that [[ColdIron iron burns fairies]], [[AdaptationalVillainy King Stefan]] has his entire castle filled with all sorts of iron traps, and wears a full suit of iron armor to his fight with Maleficent.
* ''Film/XMen'':
** During the climax of ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', William Stryker recognized that the mutant that had just been captured ''wasn't'' the real Wolverine and ordered "him" shot immediately. Also, aware that Mystique was loose in the base, he ordered the platoon of soldiers guarding Dark Cerebro to kill anyone approaching - even if it was him.
** Viper from ''Film/TheWolverine'', who seems to know about Logan's HealingFactor, along with using Mariko as a DamselInDistress to force him to come to the facility where she plans to take his mutant powers away. She even deliberately taunts him to make him pull his claws out while he's restrained in a chair.
* In ''Film/TheBrassTeapot'' [[spoiler: the grandsons of the Teapot’s previous owner]] know exactly how the Teapot works, so they let John and Alice pay the price in pain and then rob them of the cash after they have accumulated a big stockpile of it. They even know better than to touch the Teapot.
* Mehmed in ''Film/DraculaUntold'', [[spoiler:knowing how powerful Vlad is, arranges for a decoy to be seen leading his army while he sneaks into the monastery with a few men to go after Vlad's wife and son]].
* Valentine from ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' lampshades BondVillainStupidity and forgoes it by [[spoiler:shooting Harry in the head]]. He brings up how stupid it would be for him to [[spoiler:put the ExplosiveLeash implant in his own head or [[TheDragon Gazelle]]'s]], hence why he did not do so. Instead of putting his EvilPlan into an easily hackable system, he connected it directly to his biometrics, meaning the only way to stop it was to go to him personally, and the plan could not be averted through external hacking. Lastly, [[spoiler:rather than rely upon either his own satellite network or Gazelle's presumable murder of Eggsy before bringing his plan into action after losing a satellite, he piggybacked on an associate's nearby one instead to shorten the time span to the completion of the network needed and made sure to never lift his hand from the control providing the power for the EvilPlan until he was killed]]. His general canniness is explained as him being a big fan of Bond films and as such being very knowledgeable of what not to do for your evil plans.
** And just to put the cherry on top, does he keep his list of associates on an [[HollywoodHacking easily hackable]] mobile device? Nope; [[BoringButPractical Regular paper ledger]].
* From ''Film/TheThing1982'', the...well, [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm the Thing]] almost feels like it watched other horror movie monsters to avoid making common mistakes. It ''never'' reveals itself without a need or unless it's sure that it's alone with someone else, never draws unneeded attention to itself, attacks in the dark, and works to cast suspicion on others, particularly on people most threatening to it, [[ParanoiaFuel creating even more paranoia than it already does by its very nature alone.]] It's even highly strategic about who it takes over, [[spoiler:hitting the people who are the least suspected of any of them]].
* Megan, the little girl kidnapped in the Film/AlexCross movie ''Film/AlongCameASpider'' is immediately suspicious when only one person ([[spoiler: the DirtyCop Flanningan]]) has come to 'rescue' her, asking "where's the other guy?", and is not at all moved by the fact that the person trying to persuade her to come out is [[spoiler: {{female|sAreMoreInnocent}}]]. She buys herself precious time by being suspicious and running away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Voldemort from ''Literature/HarryPotter''. He knows where to strike people to make it hurt, and while he is woefully ignorant of "certain kinds of magic", he still knows his ways. In ''Deathy Hallows'', after Harry and his friends escape from Malfoy Manor with Bellatrix' wand, he instantly makes sure that the other Death Eaters know (or at least hear rumors) that she and some other Death Eaters are currently grounded and confined in the manor. He also makes sure it's known that her wand has been taken - so that anyone who may see Bellatrix walking around outside or having her wand would instantly be suspicious of her. Similarly, Voldemort makes sure to be told if anyone goes to the Lestrange vault in Gringotts, since he knows that the only reason someone would go in there is to retrieve the Horcrux he had put in there.
** And as soon as he realizes that Harry ''is'' after the Horcruxes, Voldemort decides to check on his other Horcruxes - going from least protected (the Ring in a box under the floor board of the old Gaunt place) to best protected (he alone knows Hogwarts and, hence, the Horcrux hidden there is perfectly safe) ''and'' brings his snake Nagini, another Horcrux, with him. He won't let her out of a magical cage that serves to protect her from that moment on... Not until [[spoiler: he kills Harry]].
** And [[spoiler: he puts a hex on his own name, making it so that his Death Eaters are automatically alerted of the location of anyone who says "Voldemort". He does this because he knows that only the people who are openly against him pronounce his name. Everyone else either calls him "You-Know-Who" or "The Dark Lord". Harry, Ron and Hermione were captured and brought to Malfoy Manor because of this hex]].
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' the Magpyrs from ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' have become immune to traditional vampire weaknesses and use this to their advantage. The good guys still win, but they have to struggle a bit for it. When the [[ContractualGenreBlindness traditionally vampiric]] count proves to be far more powerful than the Magpyrs, and has survived because [[spoiler:when he's "defeated", he'll wait until the heroes are gone and forgot about him before resuming his ways. Which is exactly why both the Heroes and villagers like it. It gives them excitement, the heroes work, and nobody really gets hurt]].
** Another ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' example, this one going both ways, shows up in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', when Vimes is being fired at by someone with the "Gonne". Vimes pokes his helmet up above the window sill to see if the assassin is still there. Instead of shooting the helmet, the assassin fires a bullet directly through the wall where Vimes would have been standing, had Vimes been using the traditional arrow to hold up the helmet. One step ahead, Vimes was actually several feet further to the left, using a ten-foot pole to lift his helmet.
** A similar anti-heroic example in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'' explains the origin of the name "[[CowboyCop 71-Hour Ahmed]]". Klatchian rules of SacredHospitality require host and guest be completely civil for three days (72 hours). Thing was, Ahmed was guest to a notorious killer. Ahmed knew the killer would revert to AxCrazy the ''instant'' the three days ran out, so Ahmed, in an act that among others showed he was NotSoDifferent from Vimes himself, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo broke the custom to deny the killer that chance]].
** ''Discworld/TheLastHero'': The Evil Overlord, Evil Harry Dread, has always lived by the Code, which is remain {{Genre Blind|ness}} and, in return, he will always be allowed to escape. The Silver Horde and Cohen the Barbaian respect him because of it and take Evil Harry Dread with them on their quest. Their cheerful acceptance of his inevitable betrayal actually reduces him to tears.
** ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': "This isn't the kind of person who ties you up in the cellar with just enough time for the rats to eat through your ropes before the floodwaters rise. This is the kind of man who just kills you here and now."
** Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari. He specifically designed the dungeons under the Patrician's Palace on the assumption that the first thing a usurper does is to throw the previous ruler into the dungeon. Sure, there's a huge lock and lots of bars and bolts, but all those bars and bolts are ''on the inside''. [[spoiler:And he has a key to the lock, but that's incidental.]]
* The Queen in Creator/TanyaHuff's humorous short story "A Woman's Work..." is always winning because she's not only read the Evil Overlord's List, she's made it the operating manual for her rule. Not accidentally, the story is found in the anthology ''If I Were an Evil Overlord''.
* The Vord Queen from ''Literature/CodexAlera''. When faced with [[spoiler: Araris Valerian, most dangerous swordsman in Alera]] in ChromeChampion mode, she freezes him, causing him intense pain.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** The villain Nicodemus in the fifth novel ''Death Masks'', when having Harry captured, keeps him in an absolutely inescapable position where Harry is both bound and his magic negated, noting that he would be an idiot to underestimate him, and intends to kill Harry simply by cutting his throat. We are then treated to this piece of dialogue:
-->'''Nicodemus''': I take it that this is [[JustBetweenYouAndMe the portion of the conversation where I reveal my plans to you?]]\\
'''Harry:''' What have you got to lose?\\
'''Nicodemus:''' And apparently you expect me to tell you of any vulnerabilities I might have as well. I am wounded by the lack of professional respect that implies.\\
'''Harry:''' (''grinding his teeth'') Chicken.
** Nicodemus even comments, point blank, that Harry has defeated and/or slain quite a number of powerful, dangerous beings, but adds that, by and large, most of them were morons. Nicodemus is ''not'' a moron, and the truth is that Harry only escapes from him by what is fairly clearly Divine (in the highest sense) intervention and a genuinely sacrificial sacrifice on the part of a true hero. Entertainingly, after he's rescued, he comments that Nicodemus "Must have read that EvilOverlordList."
** Harry himself definitely fits this trope, to such an extent that WordOfGod says Nicodemus, a 2000 year-old fallen angel, is terrified of Harry. [[spoiler:One big reason is Harry learned how to bypass the power of the Judas Noose, which quickly heals Nicodemus of any physical harm as he wears it like a tie, by simply strangling him with said noose.]]
** Johnny Marcone issued businesses instructions to give Harry royal treatment because he figured his buildings were considerably less likely [[DestructiveSavior to burn to the ground during one of Harry's visits]] if he's disoriented from being treated like a sultan. He also had cheap, flimsy, replaceable doors that would not turn into dangerous shrapnel placed at dramatic entry points of his buildings for when they inevitably get blown off their hinges, along with reinforced steel ones at any ''strategic'' entry points.
** A lot of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] ''try'' for this, but they rarely succeed.
*** Paolo Ortega, for example, tries to [[spoiler:cheat during a formal duel]], which just winds up pissing off Harry, [[spoiler:[[LittleMissAlmighty the Archive]]]], ''and'' Harry's mentor Ebenezar [=McCoy=], the last of whom responds by [[spoiler:[[ColonyDrop dropping a satellite on him]]]].
*** Vampires are bound by mental habits and rules to an even greater extent than the Fae, though less obviously. Ortega could realize that he would almost definitely win by playing fair (he actually brings it up at one point), but the Red Court are actually psychologically locked into their role as predators so he's compelled to avert the trope at the last moment by seizing at any advantage possible.
*** A White Court vampire who manages to capture Harry in ''Proven Guilty'' tries to do something similar to Nicodemus above, but fails to make it actually inescapable.
*** Mavra is the real thing. Rather than try to take Harry on in a straight magical fight, she sets up all sorts of traps and the like, such as keeping a group of hostages underneath a land mine rigged to go off if [[WalkingTechbane the current to it stops]], mixing her [[TheRenfield sleeper agents]] in with normal people so they have to check everyone, and [[spoiler:trapping Harry in a narrow hallway with flamethrowers aimed at him. While his shield spell can keep the napalm from actually hitting him, it doesn't block the heat and his hand burns to a crisp]]. She also has one of her servant vampires dress up as her so the group doesn't realize where she is, and [[spoiler:she may have intentionally orchestrated the entire thing to get blackmail material]].
** Jared Kincaid, an elite assassin who once worked for Vlad II, Dracula's father. He is half-human, half-demon with some physical perks. He also knows the best way to kill a wizard: With a sniper rifle and be 1000 yards away when the bullet passes through the guy, thus avoiding any chance at a Death curse. [[spoiler:His suggestion to Marva's above plot was to blow the place up without even entering it. Doing this would have increased the chances of Mavra's final death.]]
*** It's worth noting that not all of the wizards are as dumb about modern technology as they appear, and in fact most of the ones the audience is personally acquainted with are pretty thoroughly omnicompetent after years or centuries of the entire magical world trying to kill them, including those parts of the magical world versed in modern warfare. Given that Harry has granted himself [[spoiler: flamethrower immunity]] and demonstrated both conditional spells and anti-kinetic shields, it's possibly and even quite likely that Kincaid's not QUITE as dumb as he imagines. Not to mention that older wizards have used advanced orbital mechanics to create massive kinetic weapons without even crossing the actual line into black magic... the fact that they can't use an iPhone doesn't mean they aren't prepared to deal with the tech, and it's easy to forget that Harry is literally the youngest wizard on a council where experience tends to trump power in a straight fight...
* The ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' novel ''The Vor Game'' has Admiral Oser order his mooks to throw Miles out an airlock, and to cut Miles's tongue out if he starts talking, knowing from experience that Miles has an amazing gift for gab and winning people over to his side. So amazing in fact that he accomplishes this later in the book with Oser himself!
* The villain in ''[[Literature/TheLaundrySeries The Jennifer Morgue]]'' intentionally sets up a situation where he's the megalomaniacal billionaire ''Film/JamesBond'' villain who can only be stopped by a playboy British special agent with a tuxedo full of special gadgets. His plan is to end the magic spell causing this just at the moment when Bond, the only person in the world in a position to do so, would foil the plot. This would make the special agent a normal agent who could be dealt with by mundane means, and no one else in a position to do intervene. Even his minions display this: just before the villain or his equally evil wife start monologuing about their plans, TheDragon or any mooks present quickly excuse themselves so they don't find out too much and have to be dealt with.
** Also contains [[spoiler: WrongGenreSavvy, since the main character is misled by his employers to believe he is the Bond character (in order to focus the villain's attention on him), when in fact he is the Bond Girl and his girlfriend is the Bond character. Likewise, by the end the villain thinks he's broken the geas and has everything in his back pocket... despite the fact that he's ''still monologuing'' and not killing anyone when he gets the chance]].
* Denth from ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' has been a mercenary for a very long time and has learned all the tricks and stereotypes associated with said profession. Most notably:
-->He just fell out the third-story window, plummeting toward certain doom. Of course he'll live!
* The {{pragmatic|Villainy}} [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]] of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]].
-->I have no qualms about accepting a useful idea merely because it wasn't my own.\\
You were expecting, perhaps, an all-out attack? That I should seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of [[WeHaveReserves false and futile heroics]]? We haven't been defeated, merely slowed down a bit.\\
IWantThemAlive if possible. If not-- if not, I'll understand.\\
Infiltrators have access to the main ship's computer. Shut it down.
** There's also the scene where he explains why SpaceIsAnOcean... and then elects to attack in the third dimension. Needless to say, he wins.
* A minor BountyHunter in the final book of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', seeing that a bounty has been taken out on two human kids with no combat training and their protective {{shapeshift|ing}}er uncle, plans to just shoot the uncle rather than try to take him captive. Unfortunately for him, [[UnderestimatingBadassery just because Tash can't fight]] does not mean she's [[MindOverMatter helpless]]... but he couldn't have known she could do that, anyway.
* In ''Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos'' by Creator/JohnCWright, the final villain the children face is CrazyPrepared enough that he nearly kills them all outright. It takes a VillainousRescue to save them.
* Subverted in the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Plan of Attack''. The villain spends a scene explaining to an underling how he believes Patrick [=McLanahan=] will carry out his counterattack and giving instructions on how to stop it, making predictions based on what readers have seen is indeed Pat's modus operandi - only for Pat to go about it differently. Then, knowing that the Air Battle Force has weapons they can use to [[ShootTheBullet intercept missiles]], he orders a MacrossMissileMassacre that includes [[spoiler: nuclear missiles]]. Unfortunately, he fails to [[spoiler: realise that EvenEvilHasStandards]], which leads to his downfall.
* In the children's book ''Mungo and the Spiders from Space'', the evil [[MadScientist Doctor Frankenstinker]] knows that YouCantThwartStageOne. So what does he do? He [[MediumAwareness rips out the last page of the book]], leaving [[TheCaptain Captain Galacticus]] trapped forever.
* Lord Sunday exemplifies this trope in his book of ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom''. Throughout the series, Arthur has made friends with and later elevated to high positions the first people he meets in any particular realm he enters. So what does Sunday do? [[spoiler: He disguises himself as a common gardener and makes sure he is the first person Arthur meets in his realm, giving him a very good opportunity to stab Arthur in the back whenever he feels like it.]]
** He does this trick ''twice'', and appears in the background involved in [[ComplexityAddiction a number of plots across the House and Earth]].
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': A subtle example: Captain Nemo knows the captive PowerTrio will attempt a GreatEscape, so he only allows them to explore islands without any civilized life, and surfaces the ''Nautilus'' only in areas which are not frequented by other ships.
* Dark Lord Mogrash from ''Another End of the Empire'' by Tim Pratt hears a prophecy from a sybil concerning a child born in a certain village: "If allowed to grow to manhood, he will take over your empire, overthrow your ways and means, and send you from the halls of your palace forever". Rather than slaughter the village (he knows a survivor will rise up to behead him in that situation), he makes the village into a testbed of reform. When he finds the three boys most likely to take his empire, he raises them as his own sons instead of trying to kill them. In the end the prophecy still comes true, but in a way that leaves Mogrash alive and a changed man who just wants to enjoy peaceful retirement. He even falls in love with the sybil who sees enough of the future to know that they will be happy together.
* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' can catch criminals because he thinks like one, and not just one, but all kinds. What would a greedy man do? What about a stupid one as contrasted with a clever one?
* Visser One from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is this all over. In her very first appearance she facilitates an escape for the Animorphs because they're of more value to her alive and embarrassing Visser Three than as trophy prisoners for her enemy. Later in [[VillainEpisode VISSER]] we're introduced to her backstory as a low-ranking commander. Her first onscreen act is to execute a mouthy subordinate - and then rescue the Yeerk from the dying host, just to show her new recruits that she 'has the helping hand as well as the killing blade'. It's telling that the Animorphs would much rather have ''[[TheCaligula Visser Three]]'' in charge of the invasion instead of her.
* In the ''Literature/DenOfShadows'' series, Jessica has written multiple books about the vampire world. This knowledge helps her to [[spoiler: kill Fala]].
* In the Italian novel ''Cyberspace'', most of the characters' lives are spent in the titular virtual world. One character, an "avatar sculptor", finds out that someone stole the list of his clients and the avatars he made for them. However, he made a backup... on a ''floppy disk'', which he always keeps offline and out of hackers' hands.
* Maldor from ''Literature/TheBeyonders.'' He has [[SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands supreme surveillance]], an army of horrifying abominations at his hands, and nearly limitless magical power... and the thing that's scariest about him is ''just how damn smart he is.'' He has no problem with [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim directly killing]] or [[ColdBloodedTorture eternally torturing]] his strongest opponents, but he prefers to [[AFeteWorseThanDeath reward them for their persistence with an endless feast]] [[RousseauWasRight so that they have a vested interest in keeping him alive.]] [[AffablyEvil He has a calm and rational demeanor.]] He's incredibly persistent, and has plans for just about every eventuality, so taking him by surprise is nearly impossible.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': The BigBad for [[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]] did his homework. [[spoiler: When Duke Selen Esrah made a deal with a rogue, he made certain to infiltrate the rogue's group with his own soldiers in case of betrayal. He knows Princess Kasile is constantly on the lookout for threats to Ataidar, so he makes a fake one as a distraction. When cornered, he explained his EvilPlan as HoldingTheFloor until his reserve troops arrived. Finally, he's aware that Eric might, against all other indications, fulfill the SummonEverymanHero trope and so he gets Eric's counterpart on his side just in case.]]
* Marian from ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'' always suspects somebody to be the mole, [[ManchurianAgent even if said mole doesn't know it]]. She also suspected that her [[TheStarscream left hand maiden]] was up to something behind her back, and she never travels without a first aid kit or a [[spoiler: Quantum-Hybrid PC prototype containing a back up of her consciousness]].
* Both ''Creator/Dorothy L. Sayers'' and ''Creator/Agatha Christie'' have instances of characters knowing not to touch evidence with their bare hands or not to disturb a crime scene "thanks to detective fiction." Sayers also has criminals who have studied real-life crimes and carefully avoided the perpetrators' mistakes (not without making mistakes of their own, of course.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The Mayor made himself invulnerable ''before'' enacting his EvilPlan. He also made it so Sunnydale was a hub of paranormal activity allowing him to build up a large network of human and supernatural resources with which to operate from the shadows over the span of his 150 years as founder and later mayor of the town, doing his best to ensure that the humans are dulled to the weirdness. It isn't until he starts making his moves towards his ascension (many of which are small steps by this stage) that the heroes are even aware he's connected to the evils of Sunnydale and it takes a while longer before they realise just how big a threat he is. What's more he's pretty much the only villain to keep his plan close to his chest: without Anya's (an ex-demon) help they would have had no idea what the ascension really was.
** His only act of Genre blindness was having Faith kill a palaeontologist who found a dead demon (he believed it to be an undiscovered dinosaur) which lead the scoobies to figure out how to kill him. Had he made his death accidental or had a vampire kill the man on the street they would have been none the wiser.
** Spike alternates between this and genre blindness in series 2, killing the anointed one almost straight away to gain power and prevent any overly complex archaic rituals and attack Buffy at Parent-Teacher night when she'd have to uphold the {{masquerade}} and even going so far as to assemble [[NamesToRunAwayFrom The Judge]], a nigh-invincible demon who can kill people with any ounce of humanity just by being near them. Of course he's also a hot head and doesn't play well with others.
** While a lot of the bigger and more series enemies can qualify, such as Adam planning to use the Initiative's WrongGenreSavvy tactics against them to make an army of demon/human/cyborg creatures like him, The First takes the cake. Once it realises the order of the universe has been unbalanced by Willow it sets out to murder all the potential slayers, knowing that killing Buffy or Faith will just make another who might be even more of a pain in the ass. It makes a single swift move to kill the Council of Watchers before they can even make a move and hunts down any allies or survivors, with Giles and Wesley being the only known survivors. While Buffy and her friends are still unaware of its involvement it tries to talk Willow (arguably the strongest threat it faces) and Dawn into committing suicide by pretending to be their loved ones, both so that they are no longer a threat and to make Buffy unstable. Even once it's been found out it still continues to spread discord and fear by impersonating people that they don't know are dead. THEN it takes the already unstable Spike and turns him into a sleeper agent while using him to let out possibly the single most dangerous creature seen and siccing it on the vulnerable potentials first to make them nervous and liable to leave Buffy so they become easy targets. The only reason The First fails is because [[TheDragon Caleb]] spends so much time trying to get his hands on a weapon only a slayer can use, which is used against them.
* Matthew Keller, from ''Series/WhiteCollar'', knows the FBI playbook better than most agents. He's also a cunning [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] capable of thinking five or six moves ahead. This makes him the series most dangerous villain by a long shot.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** Anubis. The best example is probably that he tries to kill off the heroes even ''before'' his first on-screen appearance.
** And Ba'al. There's a reason why this guy has outlived all other villains in the Franchise/StargateVerse. Notable for ''not'' believing his own AGodAmI propaganda, unlike every other IdiotBall carrying Goa'uld. In ''Film/StargateContinuum'', he actually used the Jaffa desire for freedom to recruit them as ''allies'', instead of just forcing them into slavery (though they still apparently consider him a god; whether or not they worship him as one is not clear). Instead of approaching Earth with the usual melodramatic LargeHam speech, he claims to come in peace. The best part is that he was serious about ''both claims'', the former because he presumably considered it unwise not to honor his deals and the latter because he was so fond of Earth culture that he didn't want to ruin it. With a loyal and grateful Teal'C and the ingenious Earth humans on his side he could become even more powerful than he already was. [[spoiler:His downfall in that scenario was that he became {{Genre Blind|ness}} [[LoveMakesYouDumb when it came to his queen]] and failed to realize that while Vala was sneaky but loyal, Qetesh in Vala's body was a betrayal waiting to happen.]]
** Senator Kinsey does this in his own way, recognizing the Tropes of the program as an excuse to shut down the SG program, because counting only SG-1's encounters with the Goa'uld, they don't look like that big of a threat to account for keeping the program on-line. He wasn't exactly a villain, but his political agenda was suspiciously antagonizing to the Earth's survival.
* Crowley on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. He correctly deduces Lucifer's inherent hatred of Demons, while his Demonic compatriots are all blind to this. In season six, he takes the Winchesters very seriously as a threat and takes appropriate steps to foil them (including [[spoiler:faking his own death]]), even [[LampshadeHanging pointing out]] all the {{Big Bad}}s who were killed or defeated by failing to do just that. He uses the Winchesters to dismantle the Leviathans while staying on the sidelines. All this means he ends up outliving every other villain on the show.
-->''Am I the only game piece on the board who doesn't underestimate those denim-wrapped nightmares?!''
** He's also been known to [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall lean on the fourth wall]].
---> ''"Castiel. Haven't seen you all season."''
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky", the Sontaran leader acts like a military leader instead of marauding invader, which is a distinct rarity in the series. "A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces!", he says, refusing to reveal anything about their plans, and even keeps his cool after the Doctor started taunting them for using "cowardly tactics" (which is probably the worst insult you can give to a Sontaran). And when the master plan ([[spoiler:turning the Earth into a Sontaran cloning world]]) fails, the General decides to go with the next best thing and [[spoiler:[[CombatPragmatist use his enormous battleship to conquer the Earth conventionally]] (naturally, they fail as well)]].
** The Sontarans as a species also do this. Sci-fi law dictates that all relentless alien armies must have an obvious weak point. Rather than try to hide it, the Sontarans actually leave their weak spot (on the back of their necks) unprotected and unhidden on purpose. It forces their troops to keep pushing forward no matter what and never retreat, since retreating would mean exposing their weak points.
** In the Key to Time story arc, the White Guardian gives the Doctor the task of recovering the six pieces of the Key to Time before the evil Black Guardian's servants succeed in gathering them, so the Doctor goes on a season-long epic travelling from planet to planet finding and collecting pieces. When he reaches the final piece [[spoiler:it's in the hands of the Black Guardian's servant - who skipped straight to the last piece and then spent all his effort laying a trap for the Doctor there, knowing that the Doctor would bring the rest of the pieces with him when he arrived]].
** In the new series' season three finale, Martha Jones describes her task as a journey to assemble a weapon, split into four pieces scattered across the globe in four different countries, which is capable of killing a Time Lord outright. After her capture she [[spoiler:openly laughs at the Master for having bought that story, which she [[FeedTheMole fed to a known mole]]]], and she almost ''definitely'' [[spoiler:got captured on purpose]].
** "Asylum of the Daleks" demonstrates that even the Daleks, usually the epitome of BondVillainStupidity, can be this.
-->'''The Doctor''': You're going to [[ItMakesSenseInContext fire me at a planet]]? That's your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?\\
'''Rory''': In fairness, that is slightly your M.O.\\
'''The Doctor''': Don't ''be fair'' to the Daleks when they're firing me at a planet!
* Arthur Petrelli from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' seems to know all of the tricks of the trade for being a villain. When Hiro looks into the past and sees what made Arthur what he is, Arthur wipes away every memory of Hiro's in the last 15 or so years. He recruits Sylar and makes sure to assist in his reformation from psychopathic serial killer to empathic anti-hero. He mentally rapes the head of the opposing organization, who happens to be his own wife. He isn't above killing his own sons if it means that he can further his plans. He makes sure that everyone in his organization knows exactly what will happen if they go against him, whether it's sending them back to their previous horrible life or killing them.
* Used to devastating effect by the Sheriff of Nottingham in an episode of the BBC's 2000s ''Series/RobinHood'' series. Having captured three of Robin's followers and sentenced them to be hanged, at the scheduled execution time he gives a speech in which he makes it clear that he knows Robin and the other outlaws are in hiding nearby waiting to carry out a last minute rescue, and that that's what the crowd are all expecting to happen...then unveils the trio's bodies and announces that he hanged them an hour earlier.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers''
** Lothor of ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' seems to have noticed that all previous Power Rangers villains used the same plan (send a monster to attack the town, when the Rangers show up make it grow huge) over and over again, with the same result (the Rangers kill the monster.) So he devised a plan which ''[[XanatosGambit took advantage of the Rangers beating him in every episode]]''. Turns out dead monsters get sent to the Abyss of Evil, and if you overload it with too many (say, by killing them with your giant combining mecha) the Abyss will overflow and evil will cover the Earth, making Lothor all-powerful in the process. Oops. {{Subverted|Trope}} on one occasion where he tries to turn multiple monsters giant at once to overwhelm the rangers, but can't because he "didn't pay for the memory upgrade" on the device which grows them.
** Emperor Grumn of ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' already had won several battles in his conquest of the universe, including using a ZergRush to defeat the mentor's people in the past. Then when he attacks earth, he uses diversionary tactics of sending out monsters while his soldiers are carrying out other tasks and even succeeds in his thefts sometimes. He was also strong enough to fight the rangers on his own when necessary, and it's eventually revealed that he [[spoiler: convinced an entire team of rangers to join him without brainwashing]], using them as part of his endgame, even having a NearVillainVictory twice in the finale.
** Venjix of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' did it a little differently. He sent in subtle infiltration and infection agents, and at the same time sent in big, noisy crushing monsters. The rangers were so busy fending off the latter that they never noticed the former until it was too late.
** [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers The original Green Ranger]], immediately recognising a group of teens [[ColorCodedSecretIdentity dressed in red, blue, black, yellow and pink as the rangers' civilian forms]], as well as ''starting'' a fight at giant size, waiting for the rangers to call the [[HumongousMecha Megazord]], then shrinking down and hijacking it. When the rangers start to gain the upper hand in direct confrontations he sneaks into their MissionControl, destroys all the equipment, and kills the source of the rangers' powers.
** ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' likewise has [[spoiler: [[FaceHeelTurn the defected A-Squad]]]] shooting at the main Rangers during their TransformationSequence. It doesn't quite work, but points for trying. [[AnIcePerson Flurious]] tries a similar move in ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' by [[HarmlessFreezing flash freezing]] the Rangers as they start to morph as well as all of [[CityOfAdventure San Angeles]]. It only slowed down the morphing process a little.
** In ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', Prince Sprocket caught onto the pattern that when a monster grows, it ends up being destroyed by the Rangers and their Zords, so he uses it as a UriahGambit to get rid of Gasket and Archarina. However, despite losing the battle, the two somehow survived in an example of SparedByTheAdaptation as their Franchise/SuperSentai counterparts were destroyed after growing.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' gives us Basco from ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger.'' He will not fall for a FakeDefector, and the reason he has such a suspiciously large {{air vent|Passageway}} in the jail cell is that he is waiting on the other side of the vent with his pistol drawn.
** In ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters'', after [[TheDragon Enter]] sees the Go-Busters defeat the [=MegaZord=] he summoned he immediately asks his boss for permission to delay their attacks for a while and build up energy, then summon multiple [=MegaZords=] at once. Fortunately for the protagonists his boss is [[GenreBlindness too impatient to allow it]].
* RealityTV producers try to avoid these players; the show has to be entertaining to keep the ratings up, whereas truly dangerous players - not just incredibly overconfident types who brag about their accomplishments to the ConfessionCam - just keep their mouth shut a lot of the time. Unless they become the Fan Favorite, which ''does'' lead to high ratings, at which point the producers will often slant the rules to keep them around.
** On ''Series/{{Survivor}}: Samoa'', Russell Hantz established himself as this right from the get-go. Knowing that the early game was spent trying to establish your resources (fire, shelter, etc.), Russell sabotaged his team by hiding tools and food. He then explains (via ConfessionCam) that he's counting on the fact that the producers hid the Hidden Immunity Idols on the island before the game started, based on the history of the show. Later, in the ''Heroes Vs. Villains'' season, Russell counted on the other survivors not having watched his previous run (because it hadn't aired on American television yet) to build his all-female alliance again and undermine everyone else. The fact that Russell didn't count on the social aspect of the game (which led him to lose in the final two and final three of his first two seasons) is an [[GenreBlindness inversion]] of this trope.
** Kristina Kell established herself as this from the get go just as well, like Russell did. She knows that the two Wesleys returning are both Dangerously Genre Savvy, so what do you do? She immediately went idol hunting, and managed to find it without clues faster than anyone has ''ever'' done before, and tried to tell everyone that Rob ''had'' to go. But Boston Rob had his own plans...
** [[MagnificentBastard Jonny Fairplay]] from the ''Pearl Islands'' season copied wholesale the tactics of Rob Cesternino, a [[AscendedFanboy fanboy]] from the previous season. No one on his tribe caught on, and it worked wonders. But what really sets him apart is that, realizing that there would eventually be a "loved ones visit" (where you get to see a family member or friend for a day), he faked his grandmother's death in advance of going on the show. His grandmother would be one of the pre-selected people for the loved ones visit, and after she doesn't answer, the production staff then moved down to the next person on the list. This guy, when he shows up, informs everyone that Jonny's grandma died. Almost everyone, including the host himself, bought into it. Jonny's influence? Again, the previous season, where Jenna received leniency from her tribe mates for her bad behavior because her mom was terminally ill.
* From the American ''Series/BigBrother'':
** Dr. Will knew that if you won competitions, people often target you as a threat when you fail to win or can not win one by default, so what did he do? He got everyone to intentionally think he was completely worthless and easy to beat so they targeted people who were actually ''lesser'' threats than he was. Despite winning a total of ''zero'' challenges, he is still considered one of the best people to have ever played the show.
** In a similar vein, Kevin from Season 11. When the twist was announced that whenever your "Clique" had won Head of Household, you couldn't be nominated for eviction, he had the perception to consider not voting to evict Casey because even if he won, he and his best friend Lydia would be immune. Similar to Dr. Will, he intentionally threw important challenges so the other alliance wouldn't target him. When the house was told that there was a special twist coming and that nobody was safe, he actually ''tried'' to win the veto because that was the only way he could be safe. When his alliance was forcefully put on the block when said twist was used, he actually voted ''against'' the alliance's "leader" because he knew he had to go sooner or later and that he was the swing vote. Then after that, power shifted and he intentionally tried to make himself seem easy-to-beat so that Jeff, Jordan, Michelle, and Russell would save him for last. Then after he is put on the block and might actually go, he convinces Jeff to [[WhatAnIdiot shoot himself in the foot]] and evict Russell, stacking the odds against Jeff the very next Head of Household competition. Then, he ''intentionally'' took [[EliminationHoudini Natalie]] and [[TheLoad Jordan]] to the final three, knowing he could beat Jordan in the finals, and that Natalie would take him to the finals if she somehow won the final head of household. (He even had plans to vote out Natalie because he ''knew'' Jordan had fewer "allies" in the jury house) However, what he did not expect was Jordan to suddenly pull a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, win the final head of household, and evict ''him''. (And Jordan ''knew'' that Kevin could have beaten her, anyways.)
** In season 13, Kalia zig-zags this. She knew that she ''could not'' just grovel to the [[CreatorsPet veterans]] because they would toss her the first chance they got. So she aligns with Daniele, who jumped ship from their alliance and cut off on her own...and considers that if it's her and Daniele in the finals, the ''four'' remaining vets would vote ''against'' Daniele, so she intentionally tried to not seem like she was sociopathically pushing her way through the game as well to further ensure Jeff would vote for her. This would have worked if she wasn't {{Genre Blind|ness}} to her being HonorBeforeReason (and nominating ''Lawon'' because he misunderstood the twist) and if [[ExecutiveMeddling Pandora's Box hadn't conveniently saved Rachel and Jordan in the most blatantly contrived bailout in reality TV history EVER]].
*** From the same season, Shelly attempted this (and failed). She begun to continuously check the Fortune Teller prop in the house, hoping for a twist that would benefit her. Instead, this was actually [[ExecutiveMeddling Pandora's Box]].
** Wil from Season 14 was essentially a human lie detector. Several times while he was up on the block other players would come talk to him, telling him that he was just a pawn, he was entirely safe, nobody was going after him, etc. He saw ''RIGHT THROUGH'' every single lie they told him, but played along with it before going into the [[ConfessionCam Diary Room]] and blatantly stating he didn't believe a word the others were saying, even calling Janelle out on her fake tears.
* Deconstructed in a very harsh fashion with Meeka Claxton on Creator/VH1's ''Basketball Wives''. She looked at a lot of blogs about the show along with blogs that deal with the cast. From that point, she based their personalities on what was written about them. Not only that, after reading those blogs, she thinks that she knows Basketball Wives like an open book. [[SarcasmMode It turns out great]] when Evelyn and Jennifer, the popular side that Meeka was trying to be on, start to get annoyed by her behavior. Tami, on the other hand, keeps telling Meeka that she should get to know the cast for herself instead of basing it on what other people say. Unfortunately, she doesn't, and [[BlatantLies it only gets better from there]]. In Italy, Meeka starts lying about her encounter with Tami and Royce, claiming that [[spoiler: Tami said Evelyn and Jennifer are the "fake side", when Tami actually said "popular"]]. She even threw insults about Tami towards Suzie, who is known for [[MotorMouth being a chatterbox]] that doesn't keep secrets. The insults from Meeka came out of Suzie when Tami was trying to agree to disagree with her. But wait, [[FromBadToWorse it got even better]]. After finding out that Meeka is still speaking ill of her, Tami and the rest of the crew go to a club. A huge argument from Tami and Meeka start to blow up and she [[spoiler: punches her in the face]]. Meeka decides to fly back to Miami, leaving Italy, and leaves a letter saying that Tami is classless and that she hopes that Tami isn't causing any problems to the cast. Tami's response? [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "Dear Meeka, write this letter to someone who gives a fuck."]] She is now considered TheScrappy of the show by most of the cast, and by lots of viewers.
* In the premiere episode of ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', Nikita brazenly shows up at party to threaten Percy, the head of Division, confident he won't attack her in a room full of politicians and government employees. Then she discovers that Percy had anticipated the possibility and has some of his people waiting for her.
** It was also revealed that Percy has set up "black boxes" all over the world containing all of the U.S. government's dirty secrets from the past twenty or thirty years; if Percy dies, that information goes public and presumably brings down the government.
* Demonstrated (''very'' rarely) by Special Guest Villains on ''Series/{{Batman}}'':
** The first Mr. Freeze was this because instead of a DeathTrap, he just [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shoots Batman]] with his freezing gun.
** Catwoman was this as well when she simply had a drugged Batman thrown from a twelfth story window! Once again he was [[CrazyPrepared prepared]].
** One bad guy tricked Batman into a DeathTrap. He actually makes death traps for a living and wanted Batman to show him how to escape out of the one he just made. He had two hitmen waiting outside for when Batman and Robin escaped to shoot them both.
* Dr. Mark Sloan of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'', of all people, demonstrated a shocking amount of intelligence in a multi-part arc in which he was kidnapped by the deranged son and daughter of a serial bomber who had been executed [[YouKilledMyFather as a result of Sloan's investigation]]. Even as a hostage he succeeded in playing the siblings against each other while providing clues to his son the cop and other partners in crime-solving that led them to the kidnappers. A federal agent assigned to the case supplied the {{lampshade|Hanging}}; "Some people you should ''not'' kidnap! I swear, [[StatingTheSimpleSolution if Mark Sloan is your enemy, shoot him in the head,]] otherwise he ''will'' make you suffer!"
* Scotty, any time Kirk and Spock left him in command of the ''Enterprise'' in ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''.
* The Reaper (a.k.a. [[spoiler:George Foyet]]) from ''Series/CriminalMinds''. The man is even willing [[spoiler: ''to nearly lethally stab himself'']] in order to throw the FBI off his trail. Talk about CrazyPrepared.
* In ''Series/HogansHeroes'', Hogan and his men were often able to get the better of ThoseWackyNazis by gaining their trust, which in turn, gained them access to places enemies weren't normally allowed, enabling them to steal information. In one episode, however, when they did so by painting a general's office, the general showed remarkable savvyness, and ordered Schultz to search them before they left. Hogan had to do some quick thinking and a fast slight of hand to hide the document he stole to avoid getting caught, which required them coming back for it later. Even worse, Schultz (who was clearly [[MinionWithAnFInEvil not very savvy at all]] insisted on treating them at a bar on the way back, delaying them and almost getting them caught a second time; fortunately, the general's [[SurroundedByIdiots underlings were much easier to fool.]]
* In the ''Series/NotOnlyButAlso'' parody of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', the villain easily defeats the team by cutting their puppet strings.
* Abed on ''Series/{{Community}}'' has an [[HyperAwareness encyclopedic]] command of tropes which has kept him and the members of the study group alive long into a ZombieApocalypse, two Paintball Wars, and piloting a space simulator.
* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Alex ''knows'' she's going to get her way, and she'll be a SmugSnake till it happens. Averted in later seasons, where Alex is wrong more and more frequently.
* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Queen Hippolyta knows that Steve Trevor will be worshipped by the Amazons at Paradise Island. To avoid that, she plans to send one of the Amazons with him to his own country. And then:
-->'''Princess Diana:''' "But all the girls will want that task."
-->'''Queen Hippolyte:''' "I know. To forestall any ill feelings, I have planned a tournament of athletic games, by which I alone will determine the strongest, nimblest, and most likely candidate for the assignment."
** Princess Diana is denied access to the tournament, so she throws a tantrum and retires to the summer palace... only to participate in secret and win, to show her commitment and knowing that her mother will forgive her.
* Iain Harrison from ''Series/TopShot'' realizes from day one that as long as the teams remain evenly matched, the competition will remain relatively fair. He therefore sabotages his own team, breeding discord so subtly that the show's own producers failed to notice. Red Team's total collapse eliminates several serious competitors early on [[spoiler:and paves the way for Iain's total victory in Season 1]].
* In ''Series/{{QI}}'', Alan Davis through sheer experience, he does on occasion trick other people into saying the forfeit answer, such as in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ACv2eCmeuo&t=330s the "Jungles" episode]].When he's not merely playing the chump (or doing a mime) he has an astonishing ability to spot the double-bluffs. Although it seems he's fated to never get a point for a question relating in any way to the blue whale, even when it's handed to him on a platter.
* Nukus from ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'' is smart enough to trick the Beetleborgs into destroying all the monsters he brought back, allowing him to combine them into one, much more powerful monster, then manipulate them in a situation in which said monster destroys their HumongousMecha, and then pull off TheStarscream and succeed, becoming the second season's BigBad. While he's not more successful than his predecessor, he still shows his savviness; when the Beetleborgs becomes powerful enough to actually fight with him on equal footing, he gets himself a power-up, when they win a war over the control of an extremely powerful HumongousMecha, he goes to create its EvilCounterpart for himself. In the second season finale, he seems to realize he was so successful in the previous season partly because of him being an OutsideGenreFoe (being the only monster not brought from Art Fortuns' comics, but a drawing of his evil brother Les) which he no longer is (as all baddies in the second season have been created by Les), so he starts experimenting with his powers and creates a borderline EldritchAbomination to fight the Beetleborgs.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48r4IQTB3NE this]] commercial for Creator/TheWeatherChannel, when Jim Cantore, notable for showing up where big storms are going to happen, [[BusmansHoliday goes to the beach for a vacation]], ''everyone'' starts running for the hills, with one shopper filling his cart with bread and making a run for it and a dog barking at him as if saying "please, go away".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* In a Royal Rumble match, you're eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and having ''both'' of your feet hit the ground. Thus, there's often a show-off spot where someone is thrown over the top rope, [[{{Determinator}} catches hold of it]], and 'skins the cat', pulling themselves back up over the rope and back into the match. Most famously, this was used by Wrestling/ShawnMichaels to win the 1995 event when his opponent turned his back and assumed he was knocked out. In the 2001 Rumble, Wrestling/SteveBlackman was thrown out by Wrestling/{{Kane}}, snagged the ropes, and got in the classic position to recover...and then [[KillItWithFire Kane]] smacked him over the head with a garbage can, crushing his HopeSpot.
** And then you have Wrestling/JohnMorrison doing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpdKkaw0XpY this]].
** Wrestling/KofiKingston hand-walked to safety at the 2012 Rumble so his feet wouldn't hit the floor.
** In 2003, Shannon Moore being this trope (if not dangerously anything else) enough to stick around so that his personal Jesus Wrestling/MattHardy, Version 2.0 could land with both feet on him, and thus not the floor, and remain in the match.
** In short, any spot where a wrestler skillfully exploits this two-part technicality tends to signify awareness.
*** Then you'd think Zack Gowen would technically never be able to be eliminated. You know, since he has only one leg, after all.
** Both Macho Man Wrestling/RandySavage and Wrestling/BobBacklund have found themselves thrown ''through'' the ropes onto the ground (therefore not being disqualified), and used this to recuperate and wait out a couple more disqualifications before returning to the ring.
** Wrestling/SantinoMarella showed that he was...perhaps not ''dangerously'', but rather ''[[Funny/SantinoMarella Hilariously]]'', when after realizing that he had no chance of taking out Triple H or John Cena from an overseas battle royal, he spared himself any further punishment by grabbing himself by the collar and eliminating himself.
* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, Wrestling/{{Eddie|Guerrero}} and Wrestling/{{Chavo Guerrero| Jr}} were feuding, with the stipulation that Chavo had to wrestle Stevie Ray of Harlem Heat immediately before their match. Chavo tapped out to Stevie Ray's pre-match handshake, leaving him fresh for the next match.
* Though his gimmick since his 2005 HeelFaceTurn has been to outwit even Wrestling/TripleH and Wrestling/RicFlair, in 2009 Wrestling/{{Batista}} upped his game to this level, by attacking ''Wrestling/TheUndertaker'' with a steel chair ''during his entrance''.
** Wrestling/ChrisJericho did a similar thing in his 2009 feud with Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} - Mysterio has a habit of bumping heads with young fans wearing replicas of his mask... so Jericho went and got himself a Mysterio mask and T-shirt, bumped heads with Rey during his entrance, then jumped over the barricade and assaulted him.
* So far, almost EVERY Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank winner is this, cashing it in while the champion was [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown down and exhausted]] from a grueling match or other beatdown. (The two exceptions are Wrestling/RobVanDam, who merely went for "home turf" advantage in a no-DQ match at ECW One Night Stand, and Wrestling/JohnCena, who lost his opportunity thanks to outside interference from Wrestling/TheBigShow).
** The champions themselves have grown savvy of this as well. When Punk won the WWE Championship at the MITB 2011 PPV and was about to leave the company with it, Vince immediately grabbed a headset and demanded that Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio, the winner of the RAW MITB match of that night, cash in on him now. It didn't work on Punk for three reasons: 1. Punk had enough time to recover from that grueling match with Cena; 2. Punk is the only guy other than {{Edge}} to cash in the MITB briefcase twice; and 3. Vince was calling for Del Rio ''right in front of him''. Punk then proceeded to kick Del Rio in the head just as he arrived, shrug, blow a goodbye kiss to Vince, and run off with the title.
* Wrestling/{{Sting}} ''used'' to be one of the most {{Genre Blind|ness}} characters in pro wrestling... until [[Wrestling/{{TNA}} Immortal]] showed up. The StoryArc has caused Sting to go from GoodIsDumb to Dangerously Genre Savvy. Since this happened, he's not only been a much better judge of character, but managed to plan for the interference they'd use against him to win the title.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In virtually any tabletop game, a lot of groups have the Veteran Player, that guy who knows the game so well that he over-thinks things, not in a way a character would, but from past experience. Not maliciously, but ''instinctively.'' And God help you if you have two of them.
** New players check doors and chests for traps. Veterans check the ceilings. And Dangerously Genre Savvy veterans let ''somebody else'' check the ceilings.
** Strangely enough, the other option for veterans is ContractualGenreBlindness.
** On the other hand, if a veteran player expected a chest to be a [[ChestMonster Mimic]] and told the new players to open it, yet it turned out to contain precious treasure, then their savviness backfired miserably and turned them into WrongGenreSavvy.
* Acererak, the lich responsible for the ''TabletopGame/TombOfHorrors'', clearly knows your average group of adventurers ''very'' well. The whole place is littered with SchmuckBait and ways forward that are hidden behind much more obvious paths, the RuleOfThree is [[ExploitedTrope exploited]], and he even [[spoiler:made a [[FakeBoss low-grade copy of himself]], complete with illusion of a CollapsingLair and a bag of loot containing a map to a faraway, nonexistent dungeon]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* In ''A Shoggoth on the Roof'' during the song "To Life" (based on [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft's]] ''Herbert West--Reanimator''), when Herbert reveals that in order to reanimate Dr. Halsey, he first had to kill him. While first claiming that he used an [[ZanyScheme "ingenious plan"]], it is quickly revealed that he "just shot him".
* In ''Theatre/TwiceCharmed'', Lady Tremaine realizes that Cinderella might be recognized by the Prince, so she tells Franco to shrink her. Then, she has him use his magic to make Anastasia and Drizella graceful and beautiful so they'll catch the Prince's eye.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* In ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', BigBad Makuta cast the PhysicalGod Mata Nui into an unending sleep, allowing him to fill the resulting power vacuum (the reason he didn't just kill Mata Nui is because that would bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt). Good enough for most kid-franchise villains, but Makuta ''knows'' that some heroes will come along and wake Mata Nui up BecauseDestinySaysSo. Rather than fight it, he [[EvilPlan plans for it to gain even]] ''more'' power. [[spoiler:It works. During a crucial part of the awakening, he's able to commit GrandTheftMe and, as the universe's new PhysicalGod, he sends Mata Nui's spirit into exile.]]
** Even during the earlier story arcs Makuta dabbled in this trope. When the Toa got a power upgrade to Toa Nuva he stopped using monsters designed for direct combat and started using ones designed for psychological warfare. Enter the Rahkshi, whose chief weapons were instilling terror and rage.
** There's also Tuma, the leader of one of the tribes on the world that Mata Nui ended up on. Now, on this world, GladiatorGames have become SeriousBusiness with valuable resources riding on the outcomes. Instead of just sending fighters to win those resources in the arena for him, Tuma used the fights to study the other tribes and then sent in an army to just ''take'' them (having figured out that the tribes were too caught up in their rivalries to ally against him).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Lycidia from ''Webcomic/OkashinaOkashi''. After overthrowing the Queen of a RPG kingdom, she has the castle hallways remade (#62-63), her soldiers trained in basic marksmanship (#56), listens to her messengers (#91)...
* Given that [[TropeOverdosed lampshading any imaginable fantasy tropes]] is the basis for ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', there are lots of cases of this.
** Lord Kubota as one of the villains.
--->'''Elan:''' Give me the antitoxin! [[CarryingTheAntidote I know you have one!]]\\
'''Kubota:''' Twelve Gods, why would I be carrying the antitoxin on my actual person? I drank it twenty minutes ago, it will be effective for the rest of the hour.
** This is also a sly reference to how antitoxin works in the tabletop game. Antitoxin doesn't act as a magic cure: it just increases your resistance to poison and ability to shake it off. Thus, it's most effective to take antitoxin ''before'' you get poisoned in the first place.
** [[spoiler: Also V when he/she [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0595.html waxes off Kubota]] to [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0596.html get rid of any distractions later on.]]]]
** Tarquin may as well be the Greek God of this trope. He tops them all by deducing the fact that he MUST be able to run an [[TheEmpire evil empire]] successfully because heroes need something to thwart. From [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html #763]]:
--->'''Tarquin:''' You're a [[SpoonyBard bard]], right? How many stories have you heard in which a single hero vanquishes a wicked empire?\\
'''Elan:''' I dunno... dozens, I guess.\\
'''Tarquin:''' What is the one thing they all have in common? The one fact they all share?\\
'''Elan:''' The hero always wins!\\
'''Tarquin:''' Arguable. No, the one thing they all have in common is this: the wicked empire '''exists.''' It has existed for some time, and will continue to exist if no heroes intervene. Don't you see, Elan? The rules of drama [[ContractualGenreBlindness to which you subscribe as a bard]] tell us that such tyrannies can exist -- indeed, ''must'' exist -- and persist long enough that no one realistically thinks that they can be defeated. Else, where's the drama in a hero opposing them? And if such kingdoms are necessary, why shouldn't I rule one?
** He takes it even further when he points out that if Elan defeats him, it will be ''the greatest story ever'' and he'll become ''a legend'', making it clear to Elan that [[XanatosGambit no matter whether he's overthrown or not, Tarquin wins.]]
--->'''Tarquin:''' That's the beauty of it all, my son. If I win, I get to be a king. If I lose, I get to be a '''legend.'''
*** Elan then [[spoiler:turns this back on him by [[TakeAThirdOption simply]] [[NoEnding dropping the plotline entirely]]]].
** Tarquin even wrote a manual for his prison guards, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0766.html "We do not have surprise inspections. Ever."]] Likely the guards of the entire fortress, not just the prison, have these too going by how thorough Tarquin is.
** Tarquin is so savvy that he can figure out what the heroes know about his team based on how ''his'' team are all talking about their secrets. I.e. the fact that [[spoiler: Malack]] is a vampire has been revealed because they're openly talking about it instead of obliquely referring to it as a "condition" or something otherwise vague.
** Ultimately, Tarquin could be viewed as a deconstruction of the idea. He tends to treat people like plot elements or narrative pieces instead of like people, and thus is cruel and vengeful to people who don't fit the "story structure." He even kills [[spoiler: his son Nale]], commenting that [[LackOfEmpathy he was just cluttering up the narrative]] (though his main reason for killing him was unrelated) and almost immediately afterwards tries to turn Elan into the main protagonist by [[spoiler:ordering his army to kill the ''rest of the Order'' except for Haley]].
** With [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0931.html #931]], Elan takes a big step towards this. [[spoiler:His plan for dealing with his father involves defying tropes, and assumed the Order would mess up protecting Girard's Gate and get it destroyed. Which they did, but it was intentional this time.]]
** [[TheDragon Redcloak]] is also a very good example. Unlike his [[ContractualGenreBlindness boss]], he actually uses military tactics instead of relying on brute strength; he refuses to rely on classic [[ElementalEmbodiment elementals]] as EliteMooks, instead using stronger and rarer ones; after some CharacterDevelopment, he refrains from using the WeHaveReserves tactic; he avoids taking unnecessary risks like fighting the enemy one-on-one; and when he needs to keep a secret, he ensures that all the witnesses to it are dead.
*** Both Redcloak and Xykon are a mix of this and RealityEnsues primarily because they both eschew the dramatic tactic of gradually sending in more and more powerful minions in favor of the basic real-world tactic of applying the greatest possible force available at any given time to begin with.
** Xykon is also this simply by virtue of ignoring ItOnlyWorksOnce, which dominates the behavior of every other spellcaster in the setting (including the [=PCs=]). Not only does he cast the same "boring" spell repeatedly in combat until it works, he uses the same tactic with the same spell in multiple combat sequences. Essentially, while other casters want to show off their amazing arcane powers, Xykon bases his casting patterns on the [[{{Munchkin}} actual mechanics of the game system]].
** Vaarsuvius's "Exploding Runes" RunningGag relies on the willingness of enemies to investigate any potential clues about them. Later, they use it to prevent Xykon's agents from recovering his phylactery by inscribing the spell directly on the phylactery, causing it to activate when the enemies get close enough to see the runes.
* The ''Webcomic/KidRadd'' extra [[http://home.att.net/~miller.daniel.r/dictator2.htm "2-D Dictator Training"]] consists of Gnarl teaching other villains how to be like this.
* Bun-bun from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' demonstrates this from time to time.
-->'''Mrs. Claus:''' You waste time toying with me while someone else is toying with ''you!'' You ''think'' you're invulnerable, but ...\\
'''Bun-bun:''' Here's where you'd start playing head games with me, but ...\\
''(Bun-bun's LivingShadow hurls Mrs. Claus into the air)''\\
'''Bun-bun:''' Sorry, we accidentally launched you into orbit!
* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' has 80s action movie star Frans Rayner, who invented all ninja movie tropes since they were based on his true story. However, he doesn't quite get it until [[spoiler:he comes back in the ''Army of One'' story, and invokes the ConservationOfNinjutsu by cloning the Doctor for a one-on-one-hundred fight]].
** Doc realized what Frans was doing, and [[spoiler:switched sides, thus dividing the ninjutsu between them ''again'']].
** Rayner also only has one [[AchillesHeel physical weak point]] which through training he is able to move about his body. Naturally, he eventually moved it to his leg which he then had amputated.
* [[spoiler: Jack Noir]] of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is normally just supposed to be TheDragon to the King and Queen within the game of Sburb. His ambition however, drives him to deliberately break the rules and then proceeds to singlehandedly carve a bloody swath across the battlefield [[spoiler: as well as Prospit itself]], instead of sitting back and letting the normal order of the chess war proceed. WordOfGod states this is why he's the most dangerous character of the series; he's [[http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/550300327 willing to cheat to achieve his goals.]]
** Saying that, he's not above making the odd massive EvilOverlordList error... like [[spoiler: honouring his bargain with PM]].
** [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination Lord English]]]] has been shown taking actions like [[spoiler: [[RageAgainstTheAuthor killing the web comic's author]]]], as well as hunting down the only known threat to him by [[spoiler: [[UpToEleven launching an attack]] [[CessationOfExistence on the afterlife]]]].
* ''TruckBearingKibble'' (which is very much like ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship in its humor) has [[http://gelakinetic.com/TBK/comic/2008/07/14/down-to-the-wire/index.html this cartoon]] which either features a puppeteer very dedicated to his art, or a puppet who knows that to TakeAThirdOption is sometimes the better choice.
* AkumaTH's version of [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Robotnik]] wised up and built a mech with an armored cockpit, preventing the heroes from attacking the usual [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: he forgot to take precautions against Shadow simply teleporting into the cockpit with Chaos Control]]. [[BigBad The Undertaker]] (No, not [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker that one]]) has this occasionally as well -- when he invents an attack that homes in on and chases down a specific target, he designs it so that it will simply ''pass through him'' if the target tries to return it to sender. Unfortunately, they have their moments of GenreBlindness as well.
* It's the entire premise of ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', where a gamer geek gets sucked into a reality where the laws of nature seem to have been replaced by fantasy wargame rules. For example, early on, Parson needs to find a way to keep Ansom's approaching army from besieging Parson's city. Parson has a much smaller army, so he sends his units to attack just Ansom's siege engines and then retreat. Parson knows that because his side keeps retreating, Ansom will assume he's winning, and therefore won't pay much attention to his minor losses. By the time he realizes what's happening, his siege engines have sustained 60% losses, seriously hurting his chances of taking Parson's city quickly.
** That was just the beginning. His unconventional tactics lend him as a legend on his own side and an EldritchAbomination in the eyes of his enemies (worth noting that his universes rules are of course different from Erfworlds).
-->'''Sizemore:''' It was magnificent warlord. Horrifying... but I can't ''describe'' it. I actually modified terrain type like a titan!
* Mynd from ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' started out with jokes being made at his expense (he started out {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010303 his introductionary role in the comic]] and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010308 looking for a light switch in the dark]]) and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010707 having not read the comic]], but when he goes full tilt on his attack on the Mega Man universe, he becomes a savvy KnightOfCerebus. In fact, the author [[WhatCouldHaveBeen intended to have]] Mynd spend a week finally going on an ArchiveBinge on the comic, culminating with [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/comics/0111/011107a.png his discovery]] of the EvilOverlordList. Non-Alternate Mynd proved to be similarly savvy, and actually ''did'' go on an ArchiveBinge of the comic.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'' the party encounters [[http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0029.html this enemy]] after setting themselves up for the battle with the boss of the Ice Cave.
* Gort the VillainProtagonist of ''Webcomic/{{Darken}}'' fame, decides, instead of playing it like a good villain should, that he would just get one of this assassin allies to stab the hero in the back whilst the hero is lecturing his nemesis.
* Vole the Ex-Jager of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' just proved himself to be an example of the trope. [[BoisterousBruiser Also,]] [[DumbMuscle Smarter than the Average Jagermonster]], when he told Gil and Tarvek, currently surrounded by motion detecting death clanks, that if one of them jumps up to distract the [=FMADDs=][[note]]Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers[[/note]], the other might be able to get away in time to rescue Agatha. Needless to say, they both tried to make the sacrifice.
--> '''Tarvek:''' You know, perhaps we should have discussed this.
** Ironically, he makes a big mistake right afterwards. Namely, he forgets the number one rule for surviving in Webcomic/GirlGenius: ''do not'' make a Spark angry. '''Ever'''. And then pissing off [[{{Badass}} Gilgamesh]] of all people...
* In ''Webcomic/FinalBlasphemy'', Dr. Wily employs several robot clones of himself, has the robots attack Jeremy all at once, catches him off-guard with hidden battle armor under his labcoat, equips said armor with protection in case of a GroinAttack, and also employs at least one human clone. [[spoiler: When Jeremy kills the latter, it makes him a murderer]].
* Jigsaw of ZodiacZodiac qualifies. ''What fool would keep such a weakness exposed ?'' indeed.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'', the evil drider Spinnerette (they used to compete over who should be entitled to use the name) reveals that [[spoiler:she figured out easily Heather's identity through [[AwesomeByAnalysis pure deduction.]] Rather than use it against her friends and family, she instead pretended to have reformed and invited Heather into a death trap]].
** Colonel Glass provides a textbook example [[http://www.spinnyverse.com/index.php?id=521 here]], complete with a ''ShoutOut'' to this very site. The SlasherSmile is just the icing on the cake.
* In ''Webcomic/MinionComics'', Von Gernsbach is challenged to reveal his evil plans, and retorts by asking if he should do this because "you will die soon, and so I spill all the plans, and then there is the escaping and the foiling?" He reveals his plans anyway, because [[http://www.meetmyminion.com/?p=1017 "the ranting. The ranting, it is my greatest love]]."
* [[ButtMonkey Biggs]] of all people, from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'', shows that he is [[http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1375.php not as clueless]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity as he looks.]]
* In ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'', soldiers chasing after Benny and Tah'vraay leave them the following message:
-->[[LampshadeHanging You know how some soldiers will call out to announce their presence and intentions?]]
-->[[DefiedTrope We don't share that school of thought.]]
-->[[OhCrap And yes, it is too late to get]]
-->'''Benny:''' DOWN! ''(arrows fly, some hit)''
* This ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2013/06/25/498-thwomp-strategy/ strip]] has some [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Thwomps]] facing away from the reader, and one of them catches Mario off guard and squishes him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The EvilOverlordList is all about a villain who makes a handy guide to being a savvy villain.
* Los Hermanos, a member of the Roleplay/{{Global Guardians|PBEMUniverse}} is the hero who notes that if there's no body, there's no villain death, or mentions the fact that sending the villains to prison never works. Everyone around him complains about his "pessimism", but he's never been wrong yet.
** Simon Bar Sinister and Penny Dreadful, two villains from the same setting, never put captured heroes into deathtraps. They simply [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim whip out the guns and start blasting]].
* Dr. Diabolik of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. [[BatmanGambit He builds plans which actually]] ''[[BatmanGambit depend]]'' [[BatmanGambit on the hero (apparently) winning while he (supposedly) gloats]]. He deliberately plays up being a CardCarryingVillain to keep people from realizing that he is actually a WellIntentionedExtremist, as this leads them to underestimate him. He treats his minions extremely well and always rescues them if they get caught: as a result he is hated by Interpol because his mooks never turn traitor. He has two children: he treats them very well. He is fully aware of the cost of running a large villainous organization and always makes sure his attacks provide himself and his staff with enough loot; still, his real income comes from manipulating the stock markets through his raids, and he engages in industrial espionage along the way as well. He has a robotic arm, but he no longer wears clothing which lets it show, because someone could spot it and use that knowledge against him. He never confronts the superheroes directly, and has never been caught.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':
** After the Alien grabs the ship, [[spoiler:Wyoming]] shoots him down instantly.
** Normally Church will try and fight with his sniper rifle, despite his total lack of capability with it. When he finds out the Meta can take Freelancer armor powers, including Wyoming's time-loop power, he immediately makes a break for a rocket launcher.
** CT[[spoiler:!Pillman]] refuses to tell Tucker any secret plans, motivations, or weaknesses with the latter cornered, skipping right to the executing. [[spoiler:The Blood Gulch Crew find out ''four seasons later'', but that's not his fault]].
--> "Sorry, you'll never know."
** Agent Texas set a trap for Agents Washington and Maine based on where highly trained ex-PFL agents would recognize an obvious trap. [[WrongGenreSavvy Wash]] sees the perfect ambush zone, set by a trained soldier like a Freelancer, so he stops their Warthog. Dead center among the mines. Then they all [[OhCrap activated]].
** Unlike other antagonists in the series, Locus is content to watch and observe the Blood Gulch Crew, rather than rush in which tends to end in disaster. He also knows that when you need to dispose of a pilot, it helps to destroy their ship. When he finally takes an active role, [[spoiler:he decides to let his men rush the Blues first to get an idea of their combat capabilities. When he finds out their full combat capability, he then teleports out of the area rather than confronting both teams and Freckles, eventually taking advantage of the chaos to launch an effective strike]]. He also generally argues for a pragmatic solution if he can help it.
* Giovanni of ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'' knows the [[MindHive Mob's]] weaknesses ''very'' well. They lack the co-ordination to complete a spin puzzle, so he builds ''multiple'' spin puzzles in [[ThatOneLevel his hide-out]] and watches the chaos unfold. Later, it's revealed that his Gym is built on a ledge - and when only one down input is needed to make poor, hapless Red jump off the ledge, this makes the Gym ''almost completely inaccessible''. His son Silver in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonCrystal'' is even worse - he attacks AJ when the latter is at his weakest (such as at the end of Victory Road) and he uses a Ghost-type on his team, which the Mob struggles to hit due to poor moveset choices.
* The ''Franchise/MegaMan'' fan video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpP_BKPa5Oc "The Last Days Of Dr. Wily"]] has Dr. Wily becoming this, where he dumps the tropes found in the games [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim in favor of practical means]] of taking out the Blue Bomber, which leads to the unbeatable game ''Mega Man: Wily Does It Himself''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Ichigo Kurosaki from ''WebVideo/{{Omni Bleach Abridged}}'' in some situations is this to a level that he practically borders the 4th Wall.
* Cooler from ''WebVideo/{{Dragon Ball Abridged}}'' lampshades his awareness through liberal snark. He does pick up the IdiotBall at the end of both the episodes.
[[/folder]]

----

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' doesn't automatically assume NoOneCouldSurviveThat when [[spoiler:Mr Incredible falls off the cliff into a waterfall. He throws down a grenade after him to make sure. And then sends down some weird scanning drone to scan for Mr. Incredible's hopefully dead body. The collection of superhero skeletons in the cave show that this has worked before]]. Doesn't work this time, but full marks for effort. If he was smarter, he would have then killed his secretary after practically letting her die. [[spoiler:And not worn a cape]], and realized [[spoiler:the problem with his plan to have his hyper-intelligent, self-aware, learning killer robot roll over in defeat for him]]. In short, Syndrome is very Dangerously Genre Savvy, but he's also [[SmugSnake arrogant]] and [[LargeHam overly theatrical]], and sometimes these two traits will overrule his common sense and make him do something purely for the spectacle and/or ego boost. This leads directly to his downfall.

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' doesn't automatically assume NoOneCouldSurviveThat when [[spoiler:Mr Incredible falls off the cliff into a waterfall. He throws a grenade after him to make sure. And then sends down some weird scanning drone]]. Doesn't work, but full marks for effort. If he was smarter, he would have then killed his secretary after practically letting her die. [[spoiler:And not worn a cape]], and realized [[spoiler:the problem with his plan to have his hyper-intelligent, self-aware, learning killer robot roll over in defeat for him]]. In short, Syndrome is very Dangerously Genre Savvy, but he's also [[SmugSnake arrogant]] and [[LargeHam overly theatrical]], and sometimes these two traits will overrule his common sense and make him do something purely for the spectacle and/or ego boost. This leads directly to his downfall.

* In ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'', when Ratigan learns that Basil is on the case, he realizes that it is inevitable that the great detective will track him to his lair. So he sets a trap for him there. And, because he's such a MagnificentBastard, he also sets up a decoy trap in the bar that fronts his hideout so that Basil will easily avoid it and be lulled into a false sense of security. Too bad he then proceeds to blow it by [[ContractualGenreBlindness not just having his pet cat eat him]]. Bonus points for realizing that crushing Basil's self-esteem and sending him into a HeroicBSOD was the most effective tactic to try.

* In Danny Phantom: Trial Of Fire, after Undergrowth returns to Amity City, he realizes that in order to conquer it he will have to face Danny Phantom again, and he had already defeated him once using his ice powers. So, he attacks him using an army of evergreen trees that are naturally resistant to the cold.

** Janus Valker is a ''professional'' HeroKiller, who divides superheroes between those who think he won't shoot and those who think they can [[BulletCatch stop his bullets with his hands]]. He has a formidable robot that can easily overpower and kill any superhero and programmed to attack them as soon as they start gaining the ''mentality'' for it, before they can become strong enough to defeat it. His ''other'' robot is programmed in such a way it will kill both the criminal he's hunting down ''and'' Rat-Man (making it look like an accident), and if incapacitated it will explode with enormous strength. The only reason Rat-Man survived long enough to [[spoiler:make Valker pull a HeelFaceTurn]] is a combination of dumb luck and his rare moments of genre savvyness (such as when he used the fact the memetic ChuckNorris [[ItMakesSenseInContext always shows up to bring him on missions whenever he opened a book]] to ''[[SummonBiggerFish sic him on the hero-killing robot]]'').

[[index]]
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy/AnimeAndManga
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy/VideoGames
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy/WesternAnimation
[[/index]]

* Nukus from ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'' is smart enough to trick the Beetleborgs into destroying all the monsters he brought back, allowing him to combine them into one, much more powerful monster, then manipulate them in a situation in which said monster destroys their HumongousMecha, and then pull off TheStarscream and succeed, becoming the second season's BigBad. While he's not more successful than his predecessor, he still shows his savviness; when the Beetleborgs becomes powerful enough to actually fight with him on equal footing, he gets himself a power-up, when they win a war over the control of an extremely powerful HumongousMecha, he goes to create its EvilCounterpart for himself. In the second season finale, he seems to realize he was so successful in the previous season partly because of him being an OutsideContextVillain (being the only monster not brought from Art Fortuns' comics, but a drawing of his evil brother Les) which he no longer is (as all baddies in the second season have been created by Les), so he starts experimenting with his powers and creates a borderline EldritchAbomination to fight the Beetleborgs.

* In ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'', BigBad Makuta cast the PhysicalGod Mata Nui into an unending sleep, allowing him to fill the resulting power vacuum (the reason he didn't just kill Mata Nui is because that would bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt). Good enough for most kid-franchise villains, but Makuta ''knows'' that some heroes will come along and wake Mata Nui up BecauseDestinySaysSo. Rather than fight it, he [[EvilPlan plans for it to gain even]] ''more'' power. [[spoiler:It works. During a crucial part of the awakening, he's able to commit GrandTheftMe and, as the universe's new PhysicalGod, he sends Mata Nui's spirit into exile.]]

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' has Lady Tremaine. When she realized that Cinderella is the girl that the Prince has fallen in love with, she locked Cinderella up in the tower where no one could hear her cries and kept the key on hand. When that failed (thanks to Cinderella's mice friends), she tripped the footman carrying the glass slipper so Cinderella wouldn't have proof she was the right girl. That backfired when Cinderella reveals she carried the other half of the pair of slippers.

* ''Disney/SleepingBeauty''[='s=] Maleficent and her raven are made of this. The raven figures out that Aurora was hiding in a forest cottage after seeing the fairies' streams of magic, knowing that if the good fairies are there, so is Aurora. Maleficent has Aurora fall into her trap while the fairies are leaving her alone, then captures Prince Phillip and chains him because he's the only one to break the spell. Also the story implies fairies are powerless without their wands, so [[CrazyAwesome she turns to a dragon which nearly kills him]], something that doesn't even need a wand to begin with. If not for SupernaturalAid in effect, she would've won. If you look closely after the prince plunges that sword into her chest, you'll see her lunging at him with her jaws wide open, implying that she [[TakingYouWithMe was intending to kill him as she died]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'':
** [[AlphaBitch Sunset]] [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil Shimmer]] from the first film ''tries'' to be this, but only really manages to do so as part of the backstory (explained in detail in the [[AllThereInTheManual comics]]).
** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', [[EnthrallingSiren The Dazzlings]] are all over this. They are smart enough to go first after the human Luna and Celestia before they can stop their plan. Then, after the Rainbooms' failed attempt to stop the Dazzlings early in the film, Adagio figures out they have magic. She manages to manipulate them into arguing with each other after coaxing [[SmallNameBigEgo Trixie]] into trapping them so she and her cronies can feed on their magic, making it a NearVillainVictory.